Attorney General
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has lost hundreds of employees in ‘mass exodus’
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has lost 368 employees since President Donald Trump took office in January, according to figures provided to a Democratic senator. (Photo by Kevin Grant/Shutterstock)
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has lost 368 employees since President Donald Trump took office in January, according to figures provided to a Democratic senator.
It’s unclear how many of the departing employees were attorneys and how many were support staff, according to Reuters, which obtained the figures in a congressional memo from Democratic U.S. Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont. The department had more than 400 attorneys before Trump’s inauguration.
The “mass exodus” consisted of 98 resignations and 270 deferred retirements, Welch’s office said in the memo.
“The exodus of career attorneys has eroded the Civil Rights Division’s ability to effectively carry out its mission of safeguarding Americans’ civil rights,” the memo said. The drain “has also opened roles for the Trump administration to further install partisan loyalists.”
The division is led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who has focused on curbing diversity, equity and inclusion, Reuters says.
Housing enforcement is focused on protecting veterans and religious freedom and on challenging racially discriminatory lending, according to a policy statement obtained by Welch’s office. The Fair Housing Act is not mentioned.
The Special Litigation Section will address policing when warranted but will not “use our authority to unfairly target, hamper or impede law enforcement officers and organizations,” according to another policy statement.
The department withdrew from federal oversight agreements to reform police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, after the 2020 deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the memo said.
The Disability Rights Section will focus on executive orders against gender-affirming care and against the participation of transgender women in women’s sports, another policy statement said.
The Educational Opportunities Section is focused on addressing “anti-white racism” and fighting antisemitism.
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