Trump Shuts Down Diversity Programs Across Government Mother Jones [Video]

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Federal diversity, equity, and inclusion employees are set to be placed on paid administrative leave by the end this afternoon as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order to put a stop to DEI programs in government agencies. 

According to a Tuesday memorandum from the US Office of Personnel Management, agencies are required to send a plan for “executing a reduction-in-force action”—in other words, layoffs—for their DEI employees. 

A separate but related executive order—titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”—argues that DEI programs violate civil rights laws by illegally enforcing “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences” that “deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement.” The White House also claimed that these policies are discriminatory because they select based on “how people were born instead of what they …