Public transit is a lifeline for countless Americans. Trump is derailing our protections | Lateefah Simon and Guillermo Mayer

The US will no longer hold transportation agencies accountable for unintentional discrimination. That’s devastating for those of us who depend on it

As the first congenitally blind member of Congress and a former president of the Bay area Rapid Transit (Bart) Board, I know that the ability to move – to get to work, to school, to the doctor – is a freedom our nation’s civil rights laws have long promised to protect. Last month, the Trump administration derailed that promise.

Through a regulatory maneuver designed to evade public scrutiny, the Department of Transportation announced it will no longer hold transportation agencies accountable when their decisions produce discriminatory outcomes – no matter how severe – so long as the discrimination was unintentional. As a result, decades of civil rights protection were erased by regulatory fiat.

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon represents California’s 12th congressional district in the East Bay. She is the first congenitally blind member to serve in Congress and a strong advocate for transportation and disability justice. She previously served as Bart president and executive director of the San Francisco Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights

Guillermo Mayer is an attorney and the president and CEO of Public Advocates, a 55-year old civil rights law firm and advocacy organization dedicated to challenging the systemic causes of poverty and racial discrimination