Trump orders all federal DEI staffers on leave while he dismantles their departments
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- US federal agencies were told to put their workers in DEI roles on leave by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
- President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order terminating DEI roles and initiatives.
- It's part of a wider right-wing pushback against DEI, which Trump says is discriminatory.
US federal agencies have been told to put their workers in diversity, equity, and inclusion roles on paid leave as DEI initiatives, offices, and programs are dismantled under the Trump administration.
CBS News obtained an Office of Personnel Management memo, dated Tuesday, that said all federal employees in DEI roles should be placed on leave by 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Agencies were instructed to tell those in DEI offices that their leave would be "effective immediately" as the agency works to wind down DEI initiatives.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday, his first day in office, declaring the termination of DEI "mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities" in the federal government.
The order required agency, department, and commission heads to work with the attorney general and the directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management to take action within 60 days.
As well as the termination of DEI roles, the order also called for the termination of "environmental justice" offices.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed the memo's authenticity.
"To every reporter asking about this: I can gladly confirm!" she wrote on X.
The memo also urged heads of departments and agencies to immediately take down all "outward facing media," including social media and websites, of DEI offices and cancel any related training.
It also said the heads of departments and agencies needed to report to the Office of Personnel Management by midday ET on Thursday detailing steps taken to implement the memo, including by providing lists of DEI offices, personnel, and any related contracts as of Election Day 2024.
Additionally, the department and agency heads were asked to submit "reduction-in-force" plans for DEI offices to the OPM by the end of the month.
Trump's executive order accused the Biden administration of forcing what it called "immoral discrimination programs" into "virtually all" aspects of the federal government.
The move is part of a wider effort to clamp down on DEI, which has increasingly become the subject of criticism in conservative circles.
On Tuesday, the White House issued a separate presidential order ending DEI-based hiring in the Federal Aviation Administration, including hiring that considers race, sex, or disability.
Trump said in his inauguration speech on Monday that the US would "forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based."
He also announced that it would become official US policy that there were "only two genders: male and female."
Correction: January 22, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated the name of the federal agency affected by an executive order Tuesday. It's the Federal Aviation Administration, not the Federal Aviation Authority.