President Donald Trump ordered all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion offices to be shut down by Wednesday night following an executive order targeting DEI programs in the federal government on Monday. The president also ordered all federal DEI employees to be placed on leave.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said she could “gladly confirm” a memo issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday evening instructing federal departments to place all DEI employees on leave by Wednesday evening.
The memo issued by the Office of Personnel Management demanded that federal departments and agencies “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 also instructed federal agencies and departments to “send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language.”
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In addition to informing federal employees of the administration’s decision to close all DEI offices and bring an end to all DEI programs, federal departments and agencies were told to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices.” Agencies were also instructed to cancel any scheduled DEI trainings, terminate any DEI contracts, and “withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, materials, and equity plans” that were issued under former President Joe Biden’s executive order regarding DEI in the federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management’s memo noted that each of the actions were required to be completed by no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s memo also instructed federal departments and agencies to provide the Office of Personnel Management with a “a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding the employees who work in a DEIA office,” by 5:00 p.m. on January 31.
In a statement obtained by NBC News, Leavitt said, “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.” The White House press secretary added, “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept.”