What Is DEI and What Challenges Does It Face Amid Trump’s Executive Orders?

When President Donald Trump returned to the White House, one of his first actions as the nation’s leader included beginning to dismantle and disrupt diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts at the federal level.

The same day he took office, Jan. 20, Trump signed an Executive Order, titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” He then directed that all federal DEI staff be placed on paid leave and, eventually, laid off.

Trump’s order also rescinded policies that required federal contractors to promote affirmative action and diversity programs—his actions are in line with promises listed in his Agenda 47 platform outlined during his campaign. It also echoes Project 2025’s call to eradicate DEI from federal programs and prosecute private entities with DEI programs. Trump has always maintained he has no involvement with Project 2025.

In a separate Executive Order on Jan. 21, titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, Trump targeted DEI again and also revoked a slew of Executive Orders from the past 50 years which attempted to increase diversity and address discrimination, including several Executive Orders that were issued to strengthen or expand the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.

Trump’s order comes off the back of various happenings: The Supreme Court ruling against race-based affirmative action in 2023, the conservative backlash against DEI programs—on social media, in the courts, and in Congress—and a period of time during which multiple top companies have decided to end their DEI programs and end their support of “social or cultural awareness” events.

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Here is everything you need to know about DEI, what Trump’s Executive Orders mean, and how companies are responding.

What is DEI?

Diversity, equity, and inclusion programs can take many forms, but they generally describe efforts to increase access to and remove barriers from things like higher education and jobs for those from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, races, and genders.

The origins of DEI efforts in the federal government can be traced back to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in which—among other things—discrimination in employment based on race, religion, sex, color, and origin was outlawed. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246 the next year, which barred discrimination in federal employment and required the government to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”

Trump has now revoked this executive action, stating that “critical and influential institutions of American society… have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion.’”

In 2021, Biden continued Johnson’s legacy with an Executive Order of his own, titled “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce,” which worked to promote “equal opportunity” and define each term. Diversity focuses on representation, equity focuses on fairness and impartiality, and inclusion relates to a sense of belonging and value no matter an employee’s background.

A Pew Research Center 2023 study looked at how Americans feel about DEI programs and found that for a majority of employed U.S. adults (56%), focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing. About six-in-ten said their company or organization had policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay, or promotions.

Dividing by political party, the study also found that within those that felt positively about DEI, 78% were Democratic and Democratic-leaning workers, compared with just 30% of Republican and Republican-leaning workers.

DEI programs have been subject to a wide swinging of popularity and use among businesses in the past five years. CNN reported that between November 2020 and November 2021, there was a 29% rise in job postings with DEI in the title or description, but between November 2022 and November 2023, there was a 23% decline.

How is Trump targeting DEI?

Trump directed that all federal DEI staff be placed on leave and that federal DEI programs should be shut down. It directs federal agencies to submit written plans for executing a “reduction-in force” by the end of the month. But, this is not as simple or clear as it seems.

The Office of Personnel Management released a memo to all heads of departments and agencies on how to actually go about executing Trump’s order. The memo does not exactly define what DEI offices are and states that they “are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.” It asks for employees to report these “efforts… to obscure” connections to DEI or “similar ideologies” to the Office of Personnel Management. NBC reported this week that these orders on DEI have created a culture of fear among workers in the federal government—the largest employer in the nation.

What these “similar ideologies” are was not explicated in the memo, but government agencies have begun responding in kind. Documents on DEI have been removed from websites at agencies including the Office of Personnel Management, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security, now displaying “Page Not Found — 404” messages or notes above archived material explaining the change.

On Jan. 23, the Department of Education posted a statement announcing “the first step in reorienting the agency toward prioritizing meaningful learning ahead of divisive ideology in our schools.”

Federal agencies have also begun removing website pages dedicated to providing resources for underrepresented Americans.

Trump has gone further against DEI, ordering a “freeze” on all new cases and investigations by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. Meanwhile, the Executive Order he signed on Jan. 21 “encourages” the private sector to “end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”

How have major companies responded?

The response to Trump’s attitude and orders has not just been felt within the federal government, but within the private sector as well. Some CEOs have distanced themselves from DEI practices.

At the end of last year, several businesses, including Walmart, Boeing, Lowe’s, and Ford Motor Co., began divesting from their diversity efforts, including commitments to stop participating in Pride parades and diversity surveys.

More recently the Washington Post reported that Amazon removed several mentions of DEI, Black people, and LGBTQ+ people from its “Policy Positions” page. Elsewhere, McDonald’s announced that it would retire “Supply Chain’s Mutual Commitment to DEI pledge in favor of a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance.”

Certain businesses have stayed true to their commitment to DEI initiatives, though, including Costco shareholders who voted down an anti-DEI measure, and the beauty brand E.l.f.

Several labor rights organizations and advocacy groups have spoken out against Trump’s orders. Judy Conti, government affairs director at the National Employment Law Project, released a statement on Jan. 22, arguing that Trump “gutted key tools to prevent discrimination and root it out at its core” by revoking Equal Employment Opportunity.” 

“This is not a return to so-called ‘meritocracy.’ Rather, it’s an attempted return to the days when people of color, women, and other marginalized people lacked the tools to ensure that they were evaluated on their merits,” Conti wrote.

Fatima Goss Graves, CEO and president of the National Women’s Law Center, has also spoken out.

“In less than 48 hours in office, President Donald Trump eviscerated his promise to be a champion of workers, gutting basic workplace equal opportunity protections that have been in place for 60 years,” Graves said in a statement emailed to TIME. “These protections were enforced by the Department of Labor, and by removing this important watchdog, Trump has opened up workers to workplace discrimination.”