More than 200 named, career Justice Department employees who left their jobs this year said the Trump administration is taking their former agency down a dangerous path that will abandon civil rights protections and create undue political pressures.
Led by the Justice Connection consortium of former employees, the ex-workers all hailed from the department’s Civil Rights Division, or CRT. The staff had no intent of leaving their jobs or working against the Trump administration, they said, but were pushed out due to the maneuverings of their political leadership.
Hundreds of employees have departed CRT, they said, and “more will follow.” The efforts that led to the mass departures in the division are ongoing, they said.
CRT has undergone a significant transformation since President Trump’s nominee to lead the office, Harmeet Dhillon, took the reins. She rewrote the mission statements for each of CRT’s sections, creating new priorities focused on antisemitism on college campuses, restricting opportunities for transgender individuals and other areas.
“Dhillon continues to subject the division’s remaining career staff to forced reassignments, arbitrary terminations, and other unjustified actions,” the former employees said in a joint statement they termed “The Destruction of DOJ’s CIvil Rights Division.” Each of them signed their name to the statement.
A current employee in the division confirmed the conditions in the office are as the former employees described and said they were glad to see their former colleagues speak out.
The former workers voiced concern for their prior work that is no longer getting done, including preventing illegal discriminations in housing and the workplace, allowing children to accessible and integrated schools, protecting voting rights and fighting mistreatment of the disabled and incarcerated.
They noted they had vast experience working in both Democratic and Republican administrations and, for the most part, had no plans of leaving under Trump. The conditions on the ground, however, changed their perspectives. They cited both the unwinding of their previous work—including investigations in the abuse of immigrant children and illegal policing across the country—and their treatment in the workplace.
The division is paring back its mission to focus only on protecting constitutional rights, a Justice spokesperson said, pointing to its record on election security, ending consent decrees with local police forces and combating alleged antisemitism and affirmative action on college campuses. The department further demonstrated its new direction for CRT when it recently created a new Second Amendment Section to prosecute impediments to gun-related rights.
“To the extent that this new commitment to justice for all Americans disturbs former DOJ employees, that says much more about them than it does about the current DOJ leadership,” the spokesperson said.
CRT has lost most of its employees since January, including around 75% of its attorneys. Earlier this year, it began soliciting staff to take reassignments to fill a “deep need” created by the departures.
“Having no use for the expertise of career staff, the administration launched a coordinated effort to drive us out,” the former employees said.
The administration has transferred out career leaders and other officials to work on menial activities or President Trump’s priorities that were unrelated to their experience, they said. That effort, they added, culminated when Justice asked employees to accept the “deferred resignation” offer or face layoffs.
“Dhillon’s message was clear: no one can protect the work; you are not wanted here,” they said.
The former employees noted that political appointees are conducting more litigation work directly, leading some judges to chide them for their shortcomings.
The former staffers said they hoped to eventually rejoin government service.
“We hope that one day we can return the division to its righteous work,” they said.
