White House orders shutdown of federal DEI offices

President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered all federal agencies to cease hiring workers based on preferences for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility known as DEI or DEIA standards. Going forward, the government would employ workers based only on their professional qualifications and personal character, according to the president’s order. DEIA hiring practices violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating between potential workers based on their sex, race, or ethnicity, Trump wrote.

Also on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that a memo was circulating to federal agency heads ordering the closure of DEIA offices by 5 p.m. Wednesday. The offices’ staff will be placed on paid administrative leave, according to a copy of the memo.

So this is just the federal government that’s affected by this? The federal government would also work with the private sector to encourage a focus on qualifications, merit, and character in federal hiring practices, Trump said on Wednesday. He added that federal agency heads would work with Trump on crafting new civil rights legislation to combat diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring practices.

Earlier this week, Trump ordered federal agencies to terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs they had in the works, and to terminate any DEIA or environmental justice positions. He also ordered his assistant for domestic policy to, within 120 days, provide a new federal hiring plan to all federal agencies with a focus on their qualifications.

What else does Wednesday’s order do?

• Trump listed a slew of 20th-century executive orders, and others imposed by the Obama administration, that he ordered to be revoked.

• The Department of Labor was ordered to require entities that contract and subcontract with the federal government to stop basing hiring decisions based on sex, race, or ethnicity.

• The U.S. attorney general and secretary of education within 120 days must issue guidance for state and local schools, and higher education institutions accepting federal funds, about ending their diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift from yesterday about how Trump has said the federal government will only recognize two biological sexes.