NPR

Trump Budget Would Eliminate Justice Department's Peacemaking Office

In a time of deep political divisions, President Trump's budget blueprint for next year would combine the Community Relations Service with the Civil Rights Division.

The Community Relations Service was born out of one of the most contentious periods in American history — the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

The Justice Department peacemaking office established by the 1964 Civil Rights Act has provided communities dealing with racial or other tensions with professional mediators and other confidential services to help resolve conflict.

President Trump's 2019 budget proposal would effectively eliminate the CRS, transferring the office's responsibilities to the Civil Rights and the 54 positions that are currently authorized.

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