By Daniel Trotta and Bianca Flowers
(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump stepped up his campaign against diversity programs on Tuesday by pressuring the private sector to join the initiative and telling government employees working in offices administering such programs that they would be placed on paid leave.
On his first day in office, Trump issued a series of executive orders aimed at ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and others. other traditionally underrepresented groups.
Civil rights advocates argue that such programs are necessary to address long-standing inequalities and structural racism.
In an executive order issued Tuesday, Trump revoked executive orders dating back to 1965 on environmental actions, equal employment opportunity and encouraging federal contractors to achieve a balanced workforce in terms race, gender and religion.
The 1965 order that was revoked was signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to protect the rights of workers employed by federal contractors and ensure that they remain free from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender or national identity. origin, according to the Ministry of Labor.
The Trump executive order aims to deter private companies that receive government contracts from using DEI programs and hiring on the basis of race and gender – what the executive order calls “unlawful DEI discrimination and preferences” – and asked government agencies to identify private companies that could be subject to civil investigation.
“As part of this plan, each agency will identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations into publicly traded companies, large nonprofit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of $500 million or more, state and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments in excess of $1 billion,” the order states.
Full details on how the Trump administration would implement “civil compliance investigations” were not immediately available.
The order issued Tuesday states that federal and private sector employment preferences for veterans could continue.
The executive order was celebrated by conservative activists and Republican leaders. The move was also quickly condemned by civil rights leaders.
Reverend Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action (WA:) Network, announced Wednesday that the organization and its partners plan to identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning their DEI commitments.
Basil Smikle Jr., a political strategist and policy advisor, said he was troubled by the Trump administration’s assertion that diversity programs “diminish the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work and determination “, because it suggested that women and people of color lacked merit or qualifications.
“There is a clear effort to hinder, and even erode, the political and economic power of people of color and women,” Smikle said.
“It opens the door to more cronyism,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to respond to criticism from civil rights advocates.
Separately, the Trump administration has directed U.S. federal government departments and agencies to dismantle all DEI programs, informing employees of those programs that they would be immediately placed on paid leave.
The government should, by the end of business Wednesday, notify employees of all government offices or units focused exclusively on DEI that their programs will be closed and employees placed on leave, the Office of Personnel Management said in a memorandum.
Trump also signed a memorandum on Tuesday ending a Biden administration initiative to promote diversity within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ordering the FAA administrator to immediately stop the recruitment programs of the DEI, the White House said.
Trump ordered the FAA to conduct a safety review that would replace any employee who failed to demonstrate competence.
“President Trump immediately ends this illegal and dangerous program and demands that all FAA hiring be based solely on ensuring air passenger safety and overall work excellence,” the White House said in a statement. an information sheet.