Washington, November 6, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Harmeet Kaur Dhillon, a close ally of US President Donald Trump and head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has resigned, becoming the first senior administration official to leave following the Republican Party’s defeat in the midterm elections.
Dhillon, who served as Assistant Attorney General overseeing the division, told Fox News that she had submitted her resignation last month but was asked by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to remain in the position until the elections were over.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced her departure on Thursday, praising her record in office. He said Dhillon had defended the civil liberties of Americans and enforced the law “without fear or favour”, while thanking her for her public service.
Senior officials commonly leave their posts after midterm elections, giving a President an opportunity to reshape the administration.
The Chandigarh-born lawyer’s tenure was marked by a shift in the Civil Rights Division’s priorities. Under her leadership, the department focused on issues including anti-Semitism, gun rights, religious liberty, alleged anti-Christian bias and transgender participation in women’s sports. The shift away from the division’s traditional emphasis on racial discrimination and minority voting rights triggered considerable internal upheaval, with a majority of its lawyers reportedly leaving.
Despite her close association with Trump, Dhillon publicly challenged attempts by some of his allies to stereotype Sikh and Indian-origin truck drivers as illegal migrants following a fatal truck crash.
In August, she condemned attacks on law-abiding Sikh and Indian-origin drivers, saying many were US-born or had immigrated legally. Her remarks came after the Department of Homeland Security faced protests over a social media post featuring a turbaned Sikh man and the caption, “America for Americans. Get off our roads; you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh.” The post was subsequently removed.
Dhillon also drew attention during the midterm campaign by deploying more than 1,000 election monitors to polling stations nationwide, a move that caused concern in several Democratic-led states.
A legal adviser to Trump’s 2020 campaign, she had questioned the legality of Joe Biden’s election victory and alleged irregularities in the vote. She also delivered the Sikh prayer Ardas at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Dhillon immigrated to the United States as a child with her family, after first moving from India to Britain.
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