Carson Pulls Tool Used by Officials to Identify Segregation

In the latest sign that the Trump administration is systematically sabotaging the stated missions of federal government agencies, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this week that it was doing away with efforts to identify segregation in American communities.

HUD announced on Friday evening that it would pull an online assessment tool that communities can use to find data and maps of segregated neighborhoods.

The announcement came just weeks after fair housing groups filed a lawsuit against the agency over its suspension of rules demanding that communities address segregation.

In response to the suit, said one of the plaintiffs, HUD Secretary Ben Carson is attempting to challenge anti-segregation efforts in a new way.

“They’re trying to achieve the same goal, just through a different avenue,” Lisa Rice, president of the National Fair Housing Alliance, told the Washington Post. “They’re trying to get out from under the lawsuit. Instead of suspending the rule, they’re making the tool that communities use to follow the rule null and void.”