Demonstrators hold signs in support of voting rights outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on October 15, 2025.
(Washington, DC) – The Trump administration has gutted federal civil rights enforcement in the United States, leaving the people the laws were built to protect without adequate remedies, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
The 112-page report, “Remedies Abandoned: US Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Trump Administration,” documents the administration’s efforts to unravel the work of four key agencies between January 2025 and the spring of 2026: the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, which lost about 75 percent of its attorneys; the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which moved to lay off nearly half its staff in one day and closed 7 of its 12 regional offices; the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Fair Housing Office, which shrank dramatically; and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which reached its lowest staffing levels in over 40 years.
August 13, 2026 Remedies Abandoned
US Civil Rights Enforcement Under the Trump Administration
Download the full report in English
“The Trump administration is targeting efforts to address discrimination without offering any alternatives,” said Trey Walk, US program researcher at Human Rights Watch. “While claiming to protect all Americans, the administration is rolling back systems that communities have long turned to for relief.”
The administration’s efforts are ongoing. As recently as June 16, 2026, the Education Department announced it would transfer civil rights investigation and enforcement functions to the Justice Department, continuing the agency’s evisceration.
Human Rights Watch in
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