Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights leaders unite to counter
Trump administration's agenda
[February 12, 2026]
By MATT BROWN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Black Caucus and major civil rights
groups on Tuesday marked Black History Month by relaunching a national
plan to mobilize against what they say are the Trump administration's
efforts to weaken legal protections for minority communities.
The assembled leaders voiced outrage over the series of policy actions
President Donald Trump has implemented since his return to the White
House, as well as the president's personal conduct, but offered few
concrete details about what they’re prepared to do in response to the
administration.
“Over the past year, we have seen a concerted effort to roll back civil
rights underlying voting access, dismantle social programs and
concentrate power in the hands of the wealthy and well-connected, at the
expense of our community,” said Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus.
In rounds of free-flowing meetings on Capitol Hill, activists and
lawmakers divvied up outreach strategies and coordinated policy
platforms on education and the teaching of history, health care,
immigration enforcement and anti-discrimination policy.
Attendees described the conversations as sobering but energizing.
Multiple sessions focused on how to protect voters' access to the ballot
in the midterms from potential intervention by federal agents, a fear
that activists and Democratic lawmakers have increasingly raised since a
raid on an Atlanta-area elections center.
Other sessions gamed out how lawmakers could respond to an upcoming
ruling from the Supreme Court that may strike down a pivotal section of
the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment, and every tool available to the
leadership collectively has got to be deployed to get this thing turned
around,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told The
Associated Press after the press conference.
Jeffries did not rule out mass protests, organizing boycotts and further
legal action as potential steps that allies may take.
The leaders’ warnings come at a moment when the Trump administration has
continued its crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion across the
U.S. government, in higher education and the private sector.
At the start of his second term, Trump signed multiple executive orders
banning the use of “illegal DEI” in government agencies, as well as
organizations that interact with the federal government. Trump has
threatened to withhold funds from major companies, nonprofit groups and
state governments as part of the administration's efforts to ban DEI.
The administration has also sought to redefine the nation's culture and
how history is taught in museums, classrooms and other educational
settings. It also prioritized investigating and prosecuting civil rights
cases of potential discrimination against white people through both the
Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, among other agencies.
Civil rights leaders and Democratic lawmakers have already filed dozens
of lawsuits against the administration's anti-DEI policies. Last month,
the Trump administration dropped its legal appeal of a federal court
ruling that blocked its efforts to withhold federal funding to schools
and colleges over DEI policies.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a press
conference of the Congressional Black Caucus and civil rights
leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Matthew
Brown)
Locked out of power in both chambers of Congress, Democrats have few
ways to conduct oversight or limit the actions of the Trump
administration. And civil rights leaders, who were largely knocked
on the back foot by a deluge of policy changes over the last year,
are attempting to regroup ahead of this year's midterm elections.
Already unhappy with the administration’s entire agenda, civil
rights leaders acknowledged a frustrating irony to the moment.
Several advocates argued that the president's agenda on immigration,
voting rights, the economy and other issues is exploiting hard-won
policies that activists had, for decades, used to ensure
anti-discrimination and economic advancement for Black communities.
“This is about how this administration is using the tools we built
as a Black community to ensure that all of our people are
protected,” said Maya Wiley, president and CEO of the Leadership
Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Progressive state leaders and civil rights groups have stepped up
their efforts elsewhere. A partnership of civil rights groups and
Democratic attorneys general from fourteen states and the District
of Columbia this month launched an effort to promote DEI and
accessibility policies through more aggressive legal action.
“State attorneys general are in a unique position to defend these
fundamental rights, and this campaign will ensure everyone is heard
and shielded from those who aim to weaken civil rights,” Illinois
Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement on Monday
announcing the initiative.
The group intends to launch inquiries and file lawsuits across the
country into instances where the leaders believe organizations may
be violating anti-discrimination laws in response to the rollback of
DEI policies by major companies and the Trump administration.
The effort faces an uncertain and shifting legal landscape.
Federal courts are divided over the use of race in hiring and
anti-discrimination in the workplace. And the Supreme Court's
conservative-majority has ruled against the use of race in college
admissions. Several justices have voiced skepticism about whether it
should be legal to factor race and other characteristics into
policymaking by government agencies and private institutions, even
if a policy was meant to combat discrimination.
The assembled civil rights leaders repeatedly acknowledged the
uphill battle that their movement faced on multiple fronts. Some
said that the administration's policy decisions set up stark
political battles in the coming years.
Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, said: “We
commit today to fight and fight and fight until hell freezes over,
and then, I can assure you, we will fight on the ice.”
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