These aren’t just policies — they’re deliberate attacks on our communities. Trump’s Cabinet uses its power to roll back civil rights, deepen racial injustice, and rig the system against us. We name names and show the damage — because we refuse to let history repeat itself.
Click “View” to see how actions by these members of President Trump’s administration have impacted our communities:
Pam Bondi
U.S. Attorney General, Department of Justice
- What They Do: Leads the Department of Justice and manages federal legal work and policy regarding civil rights, crime, policing, mass incarceration, national security and public safety.
- Impact on Our Communities: Bondi unabashedly advocates for discriminatory voting laws, has worked to deprive people entangled in the criminal legal system of their constitutional rights, and seeks to elevate religious interests over the separation of church and state. Bondi’s staunch anti-civil rights stances raise serious concerns that she will not utilize her role as Attorney General to maintain the DOJ’s legacy as the bulwark against attacks on civil rights but will instead weaponize it to attack civil rights and those who defend them.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: On her first day at DOJ, Bondi issued memos attacking diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) programs and policies, both directing the DOJ to rescind and replace all agency documents that encourage such practices and to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities in the private sector and in educational institutions that receive federal funds.” Bondi has also announced investigations against universities over allegedly “illegal” DEIA practices and suspended DOJ funding to U.S. cities that provide sanctuary for undocumented migrants. On day one, Bondi issued a charging memo instructing prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible under the law in each case, specifically those that carry harsh mandatory minimums and the death penalty — returning to draconian criminal justice policies that will disproportionately harm Black and Brown people, She also ended a federal death penalty moratorium.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press statement
Harmeet Dhillon
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Department of Justice
- What They Do: Leads the DOJ’s work on civil rights issues, including voting rights, policing, mass incarceration, and public safety.
- Impact on Our Communities: Dhillon has actively worked against voting rights, both defending state voter suppression measures and challenging laws that expanded access to the ballot. Her troubling associations with those who promote extremist ideologies raise serious doubts about whether she will continue the DOJ’s historic role in protecting against hate-based crimes. She also founded the Center for American Liberty, a staunch anti-LGBTQ+ organization. Dhillon clearly intends to use the department to advance a political agenda that seeks to reverse significant gains in civil rights.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press Statement
Pete Hegseth
Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense
- What They Do: Leads the Department of Defense and is responsible for safeguarding U.S. national security and leading armed services departments.
- Impact on Our Communities: Hegseth’s open hostility to the importance of diversity in our nation’s armed forces is harmful to tens of thousands of service members who are non-white, as well as to women and LGBTQ+ people. He has also rejected any efforts to address the presence and influence of white supremacists and other extremists in the military. Hegseth, a military veteran turned Fox News commentator, completely lacks the qualifications necessary to lead the Department of Defense, or any large organization. While serving in leadership roles for the conservative Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America nonprofit organizations, Hegseth engaged in gross personal misconduct and mismanagement of funds.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: Shortly after being confirmed, Hegseth issued a memo establishing a task force to work toward dismantling DEIA in the military. The effort has resulted in book banning and actions that erase the contributions of women and minority service members. Hegseth returned the names of two military bases, which had been renamed during the Biden administration, to their original naming for Confederate military offices. Hegseth has also issued a memo requiring that transgender service members be removed from military service.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press Statement
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services
- What They Do: Leads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees vital health services such as the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and serves as the President’s adviser on all health-related matters. The Secretary’s purpose is to advance the health and well-being of all Americans.
- Impact on Our Communities: Kennedy has consistently promoted harmful, false and misleading information about public health issues, including anti-vaccine propaganda, as well as racist pseudoscience that threaten public health practices for non-white people and communities. Kennedy’s rejection of widely accepted medical science, despite his complete lack of medical or scientific qualifications, is a clear indication that his role as Secretary of Health and Human Services will dangerously undermine public health.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: Since Kennedy’s confirmation, thousands of jobs have been cut across the agency, including many directly engaged in vital health services and research, as well as helping low-income Americans afford their utility bills. Many important research grants have also been terminated — many of them because they were deemed to have some relationship to “gender ideology or DEI,” and many of these cuts will harm children and low income communities. Amid a measles outbreak, Kennedy has undercut vaccine safety and continues to spread dangerous misinformation about alternative treatments.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press Statement
Linda McMahon
Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education
- What They Do: The Secretary of Education leads the U.S. Department of Education, which protects the civil rights of students across the country, oversees critical funding that supports underresourced schools, and sets standards on critical issues such as education for students with disabilities. The Secretary also advises the President on federal policies, programs, and activities related to education.
- Impact on Our Communities: McMahon lacks any significant qualifications to lead the Department of Education. She champions the privatization of education, promoting voucher programs that drain public school funding, increase segregation and limit opportunities for low-income students. McMahon openly promotes book bans and the censoring of educational instruction such as the teaching of truthful history. Coupled with her support for defunding the Department of Education, these issues raise serious concerns about her ability and commitment to fulfill the responsibilities of her position.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: McMahon is presiding over a broad dismantling of the Department of Education, including the implementation of Trump’s executive order, huge funding cuts and a reduction in force that cut half of the agency’s staff. These cuts will cripple the agency’s ability to enforce civil rights laws and serve low-income schools and students with disabilities. The department has also sent out letters to colleges, universities and K-12 schools regarding the new administration’s interpretation of Title VI that threaten to withhold funding unless they eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press Statement
Kristi Noem
Secretary of Homeland Security
- What They Do: The Secretary of Homeland Security plays a key role in safeguarding the United States from both domestic and international threats. The Secretary leads the third largest agency of the U.S. government, overseeing transportation security, customs, immigration, emergency management, and other important functions.
- Impact on Our Communities: Noem has repeatedly expressed views on issues of race, sexual orientation, and gender identity — using inflammatory and xenophobic language — that are completely antithetical to the protection of civil and human rights, making her unfit to lead an agency that holds vast power over the fate of millions of migrants. Noem has also dismissed the need to address the serious security threat posed by white supremacists and other extremists, both in our country and within the agency she now leads.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: Under Noem’s leadership, DHS has deported more than 200 migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador, despite a court order to halt their transfer. At least one of those sent to the prison in El Salvador had legal authorization to remain in the U.S. and an order withholding deportation because his life was in danger. Several university students in the U.S. on student visas have been arrested, and hundreds of others have had their visas revoked, in retaliation for their participation in protests over the conflict in Gaza.
- SPLC Response: Press Statement
Kash Patel
FBI Director
- What They Do: The FBI Director serves as the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, our nation’s premier domestic intelligence and investigative agency, whose authority includes enforcement of federal civil rights laws, such as police misconduct, human trafficking, voting rights violations, election-related crimes and hate crimes. The Director is appointed by the President for a 10-year term and is responsible for the agency’s day-to-day operations.
- Impact on Our Communities: Patel has publicly vowed to weaponize any power vested in him to “come after” his perceived enemies, including those who opposed efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He enthusiastically promotes conspiracy theories and race-based extremist ideologies and displays an unwavering political and financial allegiance to President Trump. Patel’s extreme associations and ideologies, and his self-proclaimed intention to misuse the office to terrorize opponents, make him unfit to lead the FBI.
- SPLC Response: Letter
Brooke Rollins
Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture
- What They Do: The Secretary leads the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for developing agricultural policy, promoting food safety and federal agricultural programs, supporting our nation’s farmers, and administering he Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a powerful anti-poverty program impacting millions of Americans.
- Impact on Our Communities: Rollins does not possess any significant qualifications to lead USDA. While Rollins led the far-right America First Policy Institute (AFPI), the organization supported significant budget cuts to SNAP and other social programs and took many anti-civil rights stances such as supporting discriminatory voter suppression laws. Rollins’s support of white Christian nationalist ideologies, and associations with extremists promoting them, indicate that she will not pursue equitable use of USDA resources.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: Since Rollins’ confirmation, USDA has canceled $1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local producers and frozen funding for farmers, including suspending funds in retaliation for a state’s efforts to uphold the rights of transgender students. Black farmers who have historically been discriminated against by USDA have been hit hard by these cuts.
- SPLC Response: Letter | Press Statement
Scott Turner
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- What They Do: The Secretary leads the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is responsible for federal policies and programs related to community development, fair and affordable housing, and homelessness. Additionally, the Secretary advises the President on matters related to housing needs and urban development challenges.
- Impact on Our Communities: Turner vehemently opposes federal housing assistance programs, openly advocates the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness, and promotes legislation to allow landlords to engage in discriminatory selection practices against public housing voucher holders. He has expressed openness to freezing vital housing and homelessness programs, endorsed increased barriers to housing assistance, and advocated for greater privatization that would drive up rental rates for low-income workers. Turner’s harmful stances on poverty contradict HUD’s mission to create sustainable communities and quality affordable homes for all.
- Anti-Civil Rights Actions: Turner quickly began to implement the administration’s anti-civil rights agenda, issuing an order halting all work to enforce a 2016 rule ensuring equal access to housing programs and shelters without discrimination based on gender identity, exacerbating the risk of unsheltered homelessness for the LGBTQ+ community. He also rescinded a Biden-era rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, which required all entities receiving federal housing or urban development funds to take steps to advance fair housing opportunities.
- SPLC Response: Letter
For more, see Together We Fight.