Mark J. Lesko, Civil Rights Abuse, New York 2024

Mark J. Lesko, Civil Rights Abuse, New York 2024

In a move to protect the rights of the most vulnerable residents, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mark J. Lesko, announced the creation of a Civil Rights Team in the Office’s Civil Division. The Team, comprised of four Civil Division Assistant U.S. Attorneys and the Civil Division Chief of Civil Rights, enhances the Office’s focus on policing, patterns and practices of housing discrimination, and school segregation.

The Team will focus on areas such as policing, patterns and practices of housing discrimination, and school segregation. The Office is creating this team in recognition of President Joseph Biden’s directive in Executive Order 13985, which sets forth that “[a]ffirmatively advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of our Government.”

Acting United States Attorney Lesko stated, “Today, the Eastern District of New York, a jurisdiction created by President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, celebrates the Juneteenth National Independence Day commemorating the abolition of slavery, which was signed into law yesterday by President Biden. This Office is firmly committed to identifying and rooting out discrimination in all of its forms, wherever it persists, and we have a long and storied history in the Eastern District of New York of enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination.”

The Civil Rights Team is led by Civil Division Chief of Civil Rights Michael J. Goldberger and includes Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel G. Balaban, Megan Freismuth, Sean Greene-Delgado, and Dara Olds, along with Civil Rights Investigator Laura Riley. The Team is overseen by Civil Division Acting Chief Joseph A. Marutollo and Civil Division Deputy Chief Richard K. Hayes.

The Office has also created a new webpage, located at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/civil-rights, dedicated to Civil Rights Enforcement, which highlights the work of the Office and provides links to complaint forms and to other civil rights resources. For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, please visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny.

The creation of the Civil Rights Team demonstrates the commitment of this Office to vigorously enforce our federal civil rights laws to help foster a community where individuals can live safely, free from unlawful discrimination, and ensure equal rights for all, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

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