Watch: Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon discusses the departures and the Civil Rights Division’s new priorities.
A Major Departure at Main Justice
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon says the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division underwent a dramatic turnover after the Trump administration made its priorities clear. When she arrived, the division had about 400 attorneys. After her office said it would implement the president’s executive orders, prioritize ending DEI policies, and focus on cleaning voter rolls, about 300 attorneys quit, according to Dhillon. She described the departures in blunt terms: the lawyers had “self-deported.” The division’s mission changed, and a large share of its staff chose not to stay for the new assignment.
Dhillon Says the Mission Changed
Dhillon said she did not fire the attorneys. She told them the job had changed, and they left. That created a rebuilding challenge while the DOJ faced restrictions and budget limits. She said she recruited over 100 legal professionals to rebuild the division and that the rebuilt office now operates as one unit. Bloomberg Law reported that more than 300 of the division’s 400-plus lawyers had departed over the previous 19 months as the office shifted toward voter-roll enforcement, campus discrimination, and religious-liberty cases. The departures represented a broad change in both personnel and direction.
The Priorities Behind the Exodus
Dhillon discussed the departures in an interview with Col. Kurt Schlichter, who was filling in on the Hugh Hewitt Show. She said the rebuilt division would focus on stopping race discrimination in hiring, helping states address illegal voting, cleaning voter rolls, pursuing universities that accept federal money while discriminating, targeting antisemitism on campus, and prosecuting church blockades. According to the source account, that shift would address race discrimination affecting Asian students, white applicants, and others harmed when race-based systems override equal treatment.
Why Voter Rolls Became a Flashpoint
Voter-roll enforcement is one of the clearest flashpoints. The Gateway Pundit reported that a limited review of 47.5 million records found more than 260,000 dead people still on the rolls and thousands of noncitizens registered for federal elections. In March, Dhillon said a review of 50 million to 60 million records had found hundreds of thousands of ineligible registrations, including more than 300,000 dead voters still listed. The division has sued states that resisted providing data and put election officials on notice that knowingly leaving noncitizens on the rolls can be a federal crime. Those figures help explain why the administration treats election-record cleanup as a civil-rights issue, not merely an administrative chore.
The Rebuilt Division’s Caseload
Dhillon also pointed to findings letters against universities for alleged ongoing discrimination after the Supreme Court’s fair-admissions ruling. She said the rebuilt division is opening categories of cases the old office would not have pursued. Its stated work now includes university discrimination, antisemitism on campus, religious-liberty cases, and church blockades, including cases involving Minnesota protesters accused of obstructing churchgoers. Dhillon said she was proud of the work and of the more than 100 legal professionals she recruited despite DOJ restrictions and budget limits.
Assistant Attorney General @HarmeetKDhillon says about 300 of the roughly 400 attorneys in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division quit after she told staff the Trump administration would implement the President’s executive orders, end DEI policies, and focus on cleaning…
— The Gateway Pundit (@gatewaypundit) September 25, 2026
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