Victory: Trump’s Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta resigned

Activism works. Thanks to sustained pressure by CREDO and our allies, including CREDO members who generated more than 170,000 petition signatures, Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta resigned this July.

Before his tenure as Trump’s labor secretary, Acosta worked as a federal prosecutor on the case of billionaire sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein who is accused of sexually abusing and trafficking dozens of underage girls – many as young as 14-years-old. Acosta arranged for a sweetheart plea deal to shut down the investigation and allow Epstein to spend just 13 months in a county jail. He also worked out a secret deal that granted immunity to “any potential co-conspirators’’ who were also involved in Epstein’s crimes, ensuring that other wealthy child abusers never faced prosecution.

Intense pressure by CREDO members and our allies ensured this victory. On July 10, just two days before Acosta resigned, CREDO, along with our allies at UltraViolet, MoveOn and the American Federation for Teachers, projected “Acosta endangers women and girls,” “Acosta enables child sex trafficking,” and “#AcostaMustGo” on the side of the Department of Labor building in Washington, DC:

Photo credit: Ultraviolet

Acosta had no business being secretary of Labor, and he clearly had no interest in defending the rights of the vulnerable – his priority was protecting the powerful from the consequences of their actions, however immoral. 

Thank you to our members and allies who raised their voices to ensure that someone who shielded a serial child abuser from justice has no place in our government.