(LifeSiteNews) — President Donald Trump ordered all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff to be placed on paid leave by Wednesday evening in accordance with his executive order signed on Monday.
The president pledged during his inaugural address to “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” which is the impetus behind his efforts to abolish DEI programs that prioritize race and ethnicity above merit when hiring workers.
Trump’s Executive Order on Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing stated, “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.”
“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday night. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”
The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo to the leaders of federal departments instructing them to inform employees by 5 p.m. ET Wednesday that they will be placed on paid administrative leave as all DEI offices and programs prepare to shut down, according to NBC News.
It is unclear how many employees will be affected by the erasure of federal DEI programs.
Diversity training has “exploded” in the federal government since Joe Biden took office in 2020, the Beacon noted, with all federal agencies having mandated a form of DEI training before he left office.
DEI initiatives have long been widely denounced by conservatives and moderates as divisive, but they have been coming under increasing fire for undermining the competence and most basic functioning of public institutions and private corporations, even putting lives at risk.
For example, some commentators have blamed growing – and at times catastrophic and fatal – airplane safety failures in part on DEI hires and policies. Upon the revelation that a doctor at Duke Medical School was “abandoning … all sort(s) of metrics” in hiring surgeons in order to implement DEI practice, Elon Musk warned that “people will die” because of DEI.
Conservatives have also criticized DEI for stoking rather than curing division. A recent study shows that DEI programs actually breed hostility in businesses and schools.