Performing United States Lawyer Mark J. Lesko Proclaims Formation of Civil Rights Crew within the Workplace’s Civil Division | USAO-EDNY

Mark J. Lesko, acting US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, today announced the creation of a civil rights team in the civil division of the office. The team, comprised of four U.S. Assistant Attorneys-at-Law and the Civil Rights Director, is strengthening the Office’s focus on protecting the rights of the most vulnerable residents of eastern New York City, especially those in deprived communities. The office is responsible for enforcing our country’s civil rights laws in the eastern borough of New York, which includes Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, and Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island. The eastern district has about eight million inhabitants.

The Office is assembling this team in recognition of President Joseph Biden’s instruction in Executive Order 13985, which states that “[a]It is the responsibility of our entire government to resolutely advance justice, civil rights, racial justice and equal opportunities. ”Areas the team will focus on include policing, housing discrimination patterns and practices, and school segregation.

Announcing the formation of the civil rights team, Acting US Attorney Lesko said, “Today the Eastern District of New York, a jurisdiction established by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, is celebrating National Independence Day in June to commemorate the abolition of slavery, which became president yesterday Biden signed. This office is determined to recognize and eradicate discrimination in all its forms, wherever it exists, and we have a long and turbulent history in the Eastern District of New York enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination. The establishment of the civil rights team will further strengthen the bureau’s capacity to investigate and prosecute civil rights violations in the City of New York and Long Island, in particular our ability to conduct investigations into systemic discrimination. The establishment of the team demonstrates this office’s commitment to vigorously enforcing our federal civil rights laws to promote a community where individuals can live safely and free from unlawful discrimination and ensure equal rights for all regardless of race, color, or national origin, religion, Gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. “

The bureau’s civil rights practice is led by the head of the civil rights department, Michael J. Goldberger; The civil rights team consists of US assistant lawyers Rachel G. Balaban, Megan Freismuth, Sean Greene-Delgado, Dara Olds and civil rights investigator Laura Riley. The Civil Rights Team is overseen by the Assistant Director of the Civil Department, Joseph A. Marutollo, and the Assistant Director of the Civil Department, Richard K. Hayes. The team will continue to work and coordinate with the Department of Civil Rights of the Department of Justice and the federal, state, and local agencies that enforce civil rights laws. The office previously announced that it has doubled the size of the Criminal Civil Rights Section, headed by Chief Elizabeth Geddes, who will, among other things, act as liaison to the Civil Division’s newly formed Civil Rights Team.

The Office has also launched a new website dedicated to civil rights enforcement at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/civil-rights, highlighting the Office’s work and providing links to complaint forms and other resources for Civil rights. For more information about the U.S. Attorney’s Office or how to report suspected civil rights violations, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny.