Chavez Delemer is the third senior female official to leave the Trump administration, following the recent resignations of Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi.
Published April 21, 2026
The White House has announced that U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez Delemer will be stepping down from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Chavez Delemer is the third woman to leave the Trump administration since March, when the president fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem following a federal immigration raid in Minnesota that left two protesters dead. President Trump also fired Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.
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Chavez Delemer has done a “tremendous job” protecting American workers and will “seek a position in the private sector,” White House communications director Stephen Chan said in a post on X late Monday announcing his resignation as labor secretary.
“Keith Sonderling will assume the role of Acting Labor Secretary,” Chan added, referring to the current Deputy Labor Secretary.
Chan did not give a reason for Chavez Delemer’s departure, but the New York Post reported in January that he was under investigation for “pursuing an ‘inappropriate’ relationship with a subordinate” and drinking alcohol in the office while on the job.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the allegations.
From the beginning of her tenure, Chavez-Dellemer had some notable differences from other members of Trump’s inner circle.
She had expressed support for the pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), and had received support for her nomination from some Democrats.
Her appointment was also viewed favorably by Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who spoke specifically in support of Trump’s re-election campaign at the July 2024 Republican National Convention.
But Chavez Delemer’s position as labor secretary aligns more closely with the Trump administration’s overall anti-regulatory policies, according to US media. While she was secretary, the Department of Labor was slow to respond to calls to limit exposure to silica from Appalachian coal miners suffering from occupational black lung disease.
Chavez Delemer is not the first senior official to leave the Labor Department during President Trump’s second term.
In August 2025, President Trump fired Erica McEnterfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) director appointed by former President Joe Biden, after a report showed that hiring slowed in July and that May and June were worse than previously reported.
Chavez-Deremer supported the president’s move at the time.
In response to McEnterfer’s firing, Chavez Delemer said in a post on
