Indian-American Harmeet Kaur Dhillon has resigned as the U.S. Assistant Attorney General and head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, becoming the first senior official to leave the Trump administration since the mid-term elections.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced her resignation in a social media post, saying Assistant Attorney General Dhillon had “led the Civil Rights Division with conviction”.
Dhillon would be the second Senate-confirmed DOJ official to depart in recent weeks, following Patrick Davis’ resignation from the Office of Legislative Affairs last month. “My dad was an orthopaedic surgeon. They had a dictated two-children policy and a planned economy, and Mom and Dad didn’t want to raise their kids in that kind of an environment, so they came to America,” Dhillon, who rose to fame as a civil rights attorney.
Earlier reporting noted: Dhillon, who has vastly transformed the Civil Rights Division since her Senate confirmation in April 2025, had told allies that she would be leaving the department after the midterm elections, according to four people familiar. Because it was a Russian client state, mom and Dad left India in the 1970s.
“Besides life, the greatest gift that Mom and Dad gave me was bringing me here to America and allowing me to be sworn in as a naturalised American citizen when I was 10 years old,” she said. Assistant Attorney General Dhillon said her parents came to the US when there was a shortage of doctors here, and Washington was inviting medical professionals during the Vietnam War. Earlier reporting noted: Former officials said the department is bracing for multiple other top political appointees to exit in the lame duck period before the New Year.
Earlier reporting noted: Dhillon, a former Republican Party official and campaign lawyer for President Donald Trump, previously indicated in an August roundtable interview with Bloomberg reporters and editors that she planned to return to her California-based law firm, Dhillon Law Group, following her tenure at DOJ.
“Serving my country as AAG for Civil Rights has been the honour of a lifetime. We ushered in the downfall of illegal DEI, we fought to protect women and girls’ sports, and so much more. I want to thank President Trump for giving me this opportunity. A staunch ally of President Donald Trump, Dhillon ran her own law firm in San Francisco for several years before joining the Justice Department. She is a frequent guest on conservative podcasts and maintains a very active presence on social media.
I look forward to what’s next,” Assistant Attorney General Dhillon said in a post on X.
