Top US Civil Rights Official Dhillon Resigns After Democrats Sweep Midterm Elections
Harmeet Dhillon, the top official in charge of the US Department of Justice's civil rights division, has resigned, as President Donald Trump's administration prepares for a flurry of congressional investigations into shootings by immigration agents and the Jeffrey Epstein files.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon's departure on Thursday in a post on social media. 'Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon,' Blanche wrote. 'She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor.'
A top Trump ally, Dhillon was confirmed to her role in April 2025 and has overseen a dramatic overhaul of the Justice Department's civil rights division, which is tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. Hundreds of former Justice Department officials penned a letter last December decrying the 'destruction' of the division under Trump.
Dhillon is the first high-ranking official to resign from the Trump administration since US Democrats swept both chambers of the US Congress in the country's pivotal midterm elections on Tuesday.
Democratic congressman Robert Garcia, who will likely become the new chair of the powerful House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability, pledged on Wednesday to take on four major investigations, including abuses of power by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Epstein files.
Dhillon reportedly told her staff earlier this year that her office, which has typically been charged with investigating law enforcement killings by police officers, would not be looking into the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti – who were shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
In May, Garcia accused the administration of continuing to shield Trump from scrutiny related to unreleased documents tied to the Epstein investigation. During a closed-door hearing in which Blanche's predecessor, Pam Bondi, was asked by lawmakers about the case, the California Democrat alleged Dhillon repeatedly intervened to block questions about the president's connection to the release of the files.
The Justice Department referred questions about when Dhillon submitted her resignation to Blanche's social media post. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
