DOJ cancels diversity training, including immigration judges
WASHINGTON — The U. S. Justice Department has suspended all diversity and inclusion training and events for its employees, according to a memo obtained by The Chronicle, which would include judges in San Francisco and elsewhere hearing cases of immigrants seeking to avoid deportation.
The memo, dated Oct. 8, is in response to an executive order issued by President Trump last month that labeled racial bias training as “offensive and antiAmerican race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.” It was issued by Lee Lofthus, the assistant attorney general for administration.
“To ensure compliance with requirements specific to Diversity and Inclusion ( D& I) training for employees, DOJ Components are instructed to suspend all D& I related training, programs, activities, and events that employees are required or permitted to attend while on Governmentpaid time,” Lofthus wrote.
Any new diversity training must be approved by the federal Office of Personnel Management, he said. He offered no timeline for resuming training.
The suspension applies to all divisions of the Department of Justice but could be of particular importance to the immigration courts.
Unlike the independent federal judiciary, immigration judges who hear the cases of
asylum seekers and others trying to stay in the U. S. are employees of the Justice Department, are hired by the attorney general.
Those cases often include some of the most sensitive stories of trauma from around the world, including many from women who say they have been raped, trafficked or abused in countries that frequently do not punish men who commit such acts. Asylum seekers also include people who say they have been persecuted because of their religious beliefs and LGBTQ individuals from countries where such identities are criminalized.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, DSan Jose, who chairs the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, said the Justice Department, like other workplaces, “should always aim for more diversity, not less.”
“The suspension of this training will also apply to our nation’s immigration courts and could lead to less inclusive and fairminded judges,” Lofgren said in a statement to The Chronicle. “This is yet another reason why the immigration court system should be an independent body, separate from DOJ and free from the political whims of the Executive branch.”
The union that represents immigration judges noted that they interact with a diverse group of people in court, which it said makes such training important.
“The National Association of Immigration Judges values diversity and inclusion in the workplace as it ensures that the Immigration Judges can meet the needs of the diverse group of stakeholders with whom we interface,” Mimi Tsankov, chair of the group’s committee on gender equity and a judge in New York, said in a statement. “Immigration Court workplace training on diversity and inclusion reflects a commitment to its importance and ensures a judicial bench ready to respond to the needs that our cases demand.”
President Trump’s attorneys general have paid particular attention to the immigration courts as part of their efforts to restrict immigration to the United States, by implementing policies that have reduced judges’ discretion and made it harder for immigrants to claim asylum.