Reshaped civil rights mission at Justice Department transforms its work, workforce
Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, is implementing significant changes to the division's mission and staffing. Critics argue the shift prioritizes a specific political agenda over the division's traditional focus on protecting marginalized groups.
Why it matters
This reflects a major ideological shift in federal law enforcement priorities, signaling a departure from long-standing civil rights enforcement traditions.
When Harmeet Dhillon took over as the new chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division last April, the conservative attorney vowed to radically reshape the storied unit and its mission.
Over the past 18 months, Dhillon has moved aggressively to make that goal a reality. She has pushed out hundreds of longtime attorneys, replaced many of them with inexperienced ideological allies, and used the division's enforcement powers to pursue President Trump's MAGA agenda, according to four current and former division officials.
Three of the individuals spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution.
At the root of these changes is Dhillon's vision of the Civil Rights Division and its mission that dramatically departs from tradition.
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