The Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management issued a memo on Tuesday placing all federal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officials on paid leave by no later than end of business on Wednesday as President Donald Trump prepares to entirely axe discriminatory DEI programs.
“Send a notification to all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices, and programs,” the memo read. Agency heads are instructed to inform their employees of the impending departmental terminations, take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) for their respective offices, cancel any planned DEI trainings, and end any directives pursuant to former President Joe Biden’s now-repealed Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce.
Employees in these departments are also to be questioned about whether they are aware of efforts to disguise or rebrand DEI using “coded or imprecise language,” preventing these programs from returning under another name.
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The memo also included an email template for informing staffers of the changes, which included language stating that the DEI actions of the previous administration “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”
As Valuetainment previously reported, Trump’s flurry of day-one executive actions included an order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” which reversed the Biden administration’s emphasis on hiring based on race, gender, and sexual orientation.
“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.”
Trump also signed an order rescinding Lyndon Johnson’s EO 11246, which established affirmative action.
The exact number of affected employees remains unclear, but the OPM memo lays out a timeline for agency leadership to implement the desired changes. A full accounting of DEI-related contracts and employees is due to the OPM by noon on Thursday, as is a plan for how each individual department will comply with the executive order. A plan for reducing the departmental workforce must be submitted by 5 p.m. on Friday.
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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