The U.S. federal government has taken a major step back from its role protecting civil rights across the country, according to a new report.
The nonprofit Human Rights Watch on Thursday released a 112-page analysis of the government’s civil rights activities from January 2025 to early 2026, chronicling the first months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The report concludes that the majority of employees at federal agencies responsible for preventing discrimination have been reduced.
Additionally, the group says President Trump’s top-down directives have downplayed the federal government’s role in protecting civil rights across the country.
“While the government claims to protect all Americans, it is rolling back the systems that communities have long sought relief from,” Trey Wolk, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Which institutions did this report analyze?
The report examines four major agencies within the federal government that specialize in civil rights.
These include the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Human Rights Watch spoke with current and former federal employees, attorneys, complainants, and community organizations involved in cases alleging discrimination.
It also reviewed court filings and federal agency directives that show a shift in priorities under the second Trump administration.
What is the history of civil rights enforcement in the federal government?
The federal government’s role in protecting civil rights dates back centuries to the U.S. Constitution.
In 1791, Congress approved additions to the founding documents establishing civil protections such as religious freedom. These first ten amendments became known as the Bill of Rights.
Over the decades, amendments were added, especially after the Civil War, to guarantee rights such as equal protection under the law.
Although the constitution contains clear language regarding religion and race, critics note that there is no language that provides equal protection on the basis of sex or gender.
The history of the Department of Justice is closely intertwined with the need to enforce civil rights laws after the Civil War.
Founded in 1870, the department responded to several needs, including increasing the professionalization and centralization of the nation’s federal law enforcement agencies. But it also helped prosecute violent white supremacist groups at a time when local authorities, especially in southern states, sometimes refused to do so.
The American civil rights movement that began in the 1950s also spurred a surge in federal infrastructure development. For example, it was the Civil Rights Act of 1957 that created a specialized civil rights division within the Department of Justice.
How has federal policy changed under the Trump administration?
President Trump’s second term sparked a backlash against policies widely considered to be part of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement (DEI).
The movement gained popularity in the early 2020s, especially after the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, sparked a national reckoning over racial inequality.
But President Trump called DEI “racist.” During his campaign for a second term, he claimed there was “clear anti-white sentiment in this country.”
Since taking office for his second term, President Trump has sought to reverse policies that his administration says give unfair advantages to demographic groups such as women and minorities.
Additionally, federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division have halted certain cases they were pursuing, including those involving sexual harassment and transgender rights.
Instead, new investigations have been launched, including one against footwear giant Nike, which was accused of discriminating against white employees this year.
The Justice Department also announced in May 2025 that it would halt investigations into police departments accused of racial discrimination and reform agreements.
Such measures were taken in Louisville, Kentucky, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, among other cities, following public outcry over police killings of unarmed black people, including Mr. Floyd.
What did the Human Rights Watch report find?
The report documents a general weakening of federal agencies designed to protect civil rights.
Layoffs and retirements were part of the trend. For example, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division had approximately 365 lawyers in January 2025, when President Trump took office.
By the end of the year, three-quarters of the lawyers had left the agency, an exodus that Human Rights Watch called a “systematic effort to undermine career staff.”
A Justice Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the civil rights division “remains committed to protecting the rights of all Americans.”
The ministry also announced that it has added 100 personnel starting in 2025.
A spokesperson said the Office of Civil Rights is currently focused on “protecting religious freedom, Second Amendment rights, and space for women and girls, countering illegal race-based policymaking and DEI, and defending the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s discipline and education.”
What other offices were affected?
Other institutions listed in Human Rights Watch’s report have similarly suffered a decline in their status and civil rights activity.
The Fair Housing Office’s staff size will go from 31 to 11 by mid-2025. Approximately 115 complaints prepared by the department and sent to the Justice Department for possible legal action have been withdrawn, the report said.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights had 568 employees in 12 offices when President Trump took office in 2025. Within months, seven of those offices were closed and half of the civil rights staff was gone.
The bureau rejected about 90% of the roughly 10,000 complaints it received from May to September 2025, a higher rate than in the past, according to the report.
What impact have these changes had?
Human Rights Watch found that many victims and communities grappling with discrimination are unable to receive assistance from federal agencies.
One local housing organization told Human Rights Watch that the Department of Housing and Urban Development no longer responds in a timely manner to reports of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Some federal agencies also appear to be stepping back from their roles in monitoring discrimination and overseeing reforms across the country, according to the report.
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights has a long history of investigating allegations of discrimination and working with school districts to effect change.
However, Human Rights Watch observed that the office largely stopped responding to complaints under the Trump administration.
The Office for Civil Rights responded to 336 cases in the first half of 2024 requesting policy changes or oversight, but only 59 received such relief during the same period in 2025.
For example, in Springfield, Massachusetts, parents complained after white students held a mock “slave auction” on the social media platform Snapchat in which they bid on the sale of their fellow Black students. The case was removed from investigation by the Civil Rights Division as of last year.
