WASHINGTON | Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, a prominent Indian-origin Sikh American lawyer and close political ally of President Donald Trump, has resigned from her position as Assistant Attorney General heading the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced her resignation on Thursday, November 5, saying that he had accepted Dhillon’s decision to leave the department. He praised her leadership over the past 18 months and said she had defended the civil liberties of Americans and enforced the law without fear or favour.
Dhillon, who was appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate in April 2025, became one of the most prominent figures in the administration’s legal team. During her tenure, she oversaw major changes in the Civil Rights Division, redirecting its priorities towards issues including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, religious liberty, university admissions, transgender-related school policies and election integrity.
Dhillon has clarified that she was not asked to resign. In an interview with Fox News, she said she had informed White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles approximately three weeks earlier that she intended to leave the administration. According to Dhillon, Wiles requested that she remain in the position until after the midterm elections.
In her resignation letter to President Trump, Dhillon thanked him for giving her the opportunity to serve and described the position as one of the greatest honours of her life. She also said she wanted to return to private legal practice and intended to continue working on issues important to the country.
Her administration also faced criticism over the closure or withdrawal of several longstanding police accountability investigations, changes to civil rights enforcement priorities and lawsuits seeking access to unredacted voter registration records from states.
Several of the department’s voter-data lawsuits faced court defeats. Former Justice Department lawyers accused her of weakening the division’s traditional responsibility to protect minority communities and enforce federal civil rights protections. Conservative supporters, however, praised her efforts to change what they considered an ideologically unbalanced approach to civil rights enforcement.
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon was born in India and immigrated to the United States as a child. She built a national reputation as a conservative attorney, founded the Dhillon Law Group in San Francisco and became involved in Republican Party politics in California.Her resignation marks an important development in the Trump administration and brings an end to her approximately 19-month tenure leading the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. She is expected to return to private legal practice.
Sources: Associated Press, Reuters, ABC News and CBS News.AP News+3