Wyden, Merkley Push to Stop Trump’s Education Department From Politicizing Civil Rights Investigations

Oregon senators: "Students whose civil rights have been violated should never serve as political pawns. They deserve justice and an equal opportunity to pursue an education"

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today called on the Trump administration to stop weaponizing the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights by refusing to investigate legitimate claims of discrimination.

Wyden and Merkley underscored that the types of cases the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is failing to investigate are concerning - all while failing to provide standard transparency into its work. OCR has been reportedly neglecting to investigate and resolve cases involving racial and sexual harassment, despite its duty to protect students who are denied their right to an education free from harassment and discrimination.

In their letter to Department of Education Secretary McMahon and OCR Assistant Secretary Kimberly Richey, Wyden, Merkley and other senators underscored that the department "has severely undermined OCR's capacity to carry out this mission through unprecedented personnel cuts and the injection of political considerations into OCR's investigatory work."

In March 2025, the department fired about half of its staff and seven regional offices, leaving students, families, and schools in the dark about any investigative updates as more of them pile up. With the growing backlog of cases and remaining employees left with doubled caseloads, Wyden and Merkley emphasized that "the Department is now expected to rely upon hundreds of employees it attempted to fire to work through this self-inflicted caseload backlog."

Instead of addressing the backlog of 24,000 pending cases, the Department of Education has elevated investigations that pursue Trump's partisan priorities, including penalizing education institutions for protecting transgender students and promoting on-campus equity.

"The federal government is obliged to protect students from all forms of discrimination, and OCR must therefore investigate and resolve complaints without bias or a harmful ideological agenda," the senators concluded. "The Department is continuing to use OCR as an ideological arm of the Trump Administration rather than an enforcer of civil rights law."

The letter was led by Senator Adam Schiff, D-Calif. In addition to Wyden and Merkley, the letter was signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawai'i, Tim Kaine, D-Va., Andy Kim, D-N.J., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

The text of the letter is here.

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