Today, Joanne Lin, Executive Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, issued the following statement:

“In recent days the President has launched multiple sweeping broadsides aimed at dismantling our nation’s civil rights laws and protections:

“First, on March 20 the President issued an executive order disintegrating the Education Department to a shell, while decimating the Department’s Office for Civil Rights. These devastating actions have left many parents across the country wondering and worrying, “Who will take care of my child with special needs? Who will ensure equal access to education for ALL children?”

“The next day the President issued a March 21 directive blasting lawyers who work on civil rights and immigrants’ rights, threatening them with sanctions. This action is a chilling attack on the entire legal profession — aimed at silencing those lawyers who seek to hold government officials accountable for violating people’s rights.

“Since our creation in 1968, the Washington Lawyers’​ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs has gone to court to fight for the civil rights of low-income families and communities. We have done so —regardless of who occupies the White House.

“And we shall continue to do so.

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to defend our immigrant neighbors, to safeguard civil rights for all, and to uphold the rule of law in the Greater Washington DC region and across the country.

“Thank you for standing with us, shoulder to shoulder, as we fight for our country’s future.

“This fight is going to take ALL of us.”