Former Attorney General Eric Holder accused President Donald Trump’s administration of attempting to “re-segregate America” during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
“We are seeing a sustained effort to eradicate the Voting Rights Act. That is the crown jewel — the crown jewel — of the Civil Rights Movement and an essential part of Dr. King’s legacy,” Holder said during remarks at the Annual MLK Day Legislative Breakfast.
Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015, argued that current political and legal developments are undermining civil rights protections and weakening Black political power.
“We are experiencing unprecedented mid-decade Gerrymandering attempts to disproportionately disenfranchise Black and Brown voters as the president desperately clings to power like an insecure dictator,” he said. “There is a concerted effort to re-segregate America.”
His comments come as both Democrats and Republicans push for new voting maps in multiple states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
Last week, Politico reported that the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais—a case in which a federal court ruled the state’s map likely violated the Voting Rights Act—could further weaken the landmark 1965 law. The report noted the ruling could “open the door to redrawing congressional maps, particularly across the South,” and that legal observers expect at least a partial conservative victory that could enable Republicans to gain additional seats by eliminating Black- and Hispanic-majority districts.
Holder also criticized the administration’s immigration enforcement approach, alleging officials were using “Gestapo tactics” in Minnesota and elsewhere—language that echoes past comparisons by some Democrats between federal immigration enforcement and Nazi-era policing.
He additionally urged attendees to remember Renee Good, a protester he said was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis earlier this month.
“You all remember the name Renee Good. And you say her name. You say her name,” Holder told the crowd.
