Civil Rights chief steps down after midterm losses
Harmeet Dhillon resigns from the Justice Department alongside two other senior prosecutors following Republican setbacks in this week's elections.
By Rafael Delgado ·
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon has resigned from the US Justice Department. US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the departure on Thursday. Dhillon served for 19 months in the role. She agreed to stay in the position until the midterm elections concluded. The elections took place this week and resulted in heavy defeats for Trump's Republican Party.
Dhillon led the department's efforts to target anti-Israel protests on college campuses. The Civil Rights Division under her leadership investigated dozens of universities nationwide over student-led pro-Palestine activism. Democracy Now reported that her tenure involved gutting civil rights and diversity protections in education. The division also stopped investigating accusations of systemic racism and sexism during that period.
Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, announced two additional departures on Friday. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg resigned. Jason Reding Quinones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, also stepped down. Quinones oversaw an investigation into former intelligence officials. Those officials were accused by Trump of seeking to remove him from power.
Dhillon was directly involved in attempts to obtain voter registration lists from about 30 states ahead of the vote. Those attempts were unsuccessful. In her resignation letter, cited by US media outlets, Dhillon said she submitted her notice in October. She chose to remain until the election was over. Several other prosecutors have lost their jobs in the Justice Department under Trump. Some left because they were reluctant or unable to bring charges against perceived enemies.
