The Education Department’s civil rights office has been among the hardest hit by layoffs, with the Trump administration shuttering seven of its 12 regional offices and laying off nearly half of its staff.

The Education Department’s civil rights branch is losing nearly half its staff in the Trump administration’s layoffs, effectively gutting an office that already faced a backlog of thousands of complaints from students and families across the nation.

Plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Friday claim the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights cannot fulfill its mandated duties after nearly half the department’s staff was laid off this week, as President Donald Trump moves to shut down the agency entirely.

At least 50 staffers were fired in Chicago or pushed out, including the entire Office for Civil Rights. The layoffs are part of a dramatic downsizing directed by the president.