The Trump administration directs all federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion employees to furlough

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees be placed on paid leave and eventually laid off.

These moves come by executive order Trump signed on his first day Order a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump called the programs “discriminatory” and insisted on restoring hiring strictly “based on merit.”

The Affirmative Action Executive Order rescinds an order issued by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, limiting DEI programs carried out by federal contractors and grant recipients.

It’s using one of the main tools the Biden administration uses to promote DEI programs across the private sector — pushing federal contractors to use them — to eliminate it now.

Office of Personnel Management In a note Tuesday Directing agencies to place DEI office staff on paid leave by 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday and to remove all public DEI-focused web pages by the same deadline. Several federal departments had removed web pages even before the memo.

Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and terminate any related contracts, and federal employees are required to report to Trump’s Office of Personnel Management if they suspect any DEI-related program to be renamed to obscure its purpose within 10 days or face “severe consequences.” “

By Thursday, federal agencies are required to compile a list of federal DEI offices and those working in them as of Election Day. By next Friday, they are expected to develop a plan to implement a “reduction in force action” against these federal workers.

The memo was first reported by CBS News.

This step comes after… Executive order Monday He accused former US President Joe Biden of imposing “discriminatory” programs on “almost all aspects of the federal government” through “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs known as DEI.

The move is the first salvo in an aggressive campaign to undermine DEI efforts across the country, including tapping the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies to investigate private companies that follow training and hiring practices that conservative critics consider discriminatory against non-minority groups such as white men.

Aggressive campaign

The executive order picks up where the first Trump administration left off: One of Trump’s final actions during his first term was an executive order prohibiting federal agency contractors and recipients of federal funding from conducting anti-bias training that addresses concepts such as systemic racism.

Biden immediately rescinded that order on his first day in office and issued a pair of executive orders — now rescinded — outlining a plan to boost DEI throughout the federal government.

While many of the changes could take months or even years to implement, Trump’s new anti-DEI agenda is more aggressive than his first and comes amid more manageable terrain in the corporate world.

Prominent companies from Walmart to Facebook have already scaled back or ended some of their diversity practices in response to Trump’s election and the conservative-backed lawsuits against them.