WASHINGTON, March 27 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today released a new report finding that the Trump administration has left more than 46 million students in 27 states and territories without dedicated investigators to protect their educational civil rights. Due to President Trump’s efforts to abolish the Department of Education and fire half of its workforce, millions of students who face antisemitism and Islamophobia, students with disabilities, students who are sexually harassed and LGBTQ+ students who are bullied have been left without recourse or protection. Staffers who were abruptly fired were actively investigating over 6,800 civil rights cases throughout the country – including cases of antisemitism and many other forms of hate and discrimination. The report comes on the heels of a Republican-led hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. 

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) receives thousands of complaints alleging civil rights violations annually – including a record of nearly 22,700 complaints last year. Trump’s reckless layoffs have impacted at least 43 percent of OCR’s staff, including the entire staff at seven out of 12 of OCR’s regional offices. These firings subject thousands of students to potentially unsafe learning environments – or leave them out of school entirely. The department has not communicated any plan to schools, students or families to ensure continued civil rights enforcement. 

“If we are serious about reducing the unacceptable rise in antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism on college campuses, we should not be defunding and dismantling the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights,” said Sanders. “Unfortunately and unacceptably, that is precisely what President Trump, Elon Musk and his minions at DOGE are doing. 46 million students in 27 states and territories have been left without dedicated staff to investigate their discrimination complaints. The staffers who were abruptly fired were investigating over 6,800 civil rights cases throughout the country – including cases of antisemitism and many other forms of hate and discrimination. These cases are still pending. They have not been resolved. That is unacceptable.” 

Here are some of the key findings from the report: 

• Over 46 million students in 27 states and territories have been left without dedicated civil rights investigators to protect their rights and investigate their complaints.
• Staff investigating over 6,800 cases of discrimination have been fired – including staff investigating 74 percent of the nation’s open cases regarding national origin discrimination involving religion, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• OCR investigators caseloads will explode by over 200 percent and may rise from 42 cases per investigator to 86 cases.

Even before Trump’s layoffs, caseloads for OCR staff were far too high. Now, fewer staff will lead to fewer investigations conducted and completed and to more students facing harassment, abuse, and discrimination. This undermines the department’s ability to protect students’ civil rights and compromises its ability to deliver a high-quality education to 26 million children living in high-poverty school districts, 7 million students receiving Pell Grants, and 9.5 million students with disabilities, no matter their race, ethnicity, income, zip code or disability status.

Sanders concluded: “We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We should have the best education system of any country in the world and ensure all of our kids can get a decent education no matter what their race, creed, color or gender may be.”

Read the full report here.