The Justice Department said Friday it is investigating illegal dumping in the city of Houston -- including dead bodies -- that officials said are left in Black and Latino neighborhoods in the nation's fourth largest city.
The investigation will be led by the department's civil rights division and will examine whether city police and other departments discriminate against Black and Latino residents in violation of federal civil rights laws. Besides bodies, items dumped in majority Black or Latino neighborhoods include appliances, furniture, tires, medical waste and vandalized ATM machines, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said at a news conference Friday.
The investigation is the first publicly announced environmental justice action since Attorney General Merrick Garland created an office of environmental justice within the agency in May. The new office is focused on "fenceline communities" in Houston, New Orleans, Chicago and other cities that have been exposed to air and water pollution from chemical plants, refineries and other industrial sites.
"No one in the United States should be exposed to risk of illness and other serious harm because of ineffective solid waste management or inadequate enforcement programs," she said.