Trump escalates campaign against diversity, threatens private sector probes

US President Donald Trump escalated his campaign against diversity programs on Tuesday by pressuring the private sector to join the initiative and telling government employees in offices administering such programs they would be placed on paid leave.

On his first day in office Trump issued a series of executive orders to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which attempt to promote opportunities for women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups.

Civil rights advocates have argued such programs are necessary to address longstanding inequities and structural racism. Trump and his supporters say DEI programs end up unfairly discriminating against other Americans and weaken the importance of candidates' merit in job hiring or promotion.

In an executive order issued on Tuesday, Trump revoked executive orders dating as far back as 1965 on environmental actions, equal employment opportunities and encouragement to federal contractors to achieve workforce balancing on 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The 1965 order that was revoked was signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to protect the rights of workers employed by federal contractors and ensure they remained free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin, according to the Labor Department.

The Trump executive order seeks to dissuade private companies that receive government contracts from using DEI programs and hiring on the basis of race and sex - what the order called "illegal DEI discrimination and preferences" - and asks government agencies to identify private companies that might be subject to civil investigation.

"As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars," the order said.

Full details on how the Trump administration would enforce "civil compliance investigations" were not immediately available.

The order issued on Tuesday stipulates that federal and private-sector employment preferences for military veterans could continue.

The executive order was celebrated by conservative activists and Republican leaders. It was also met with condemnation from civil rights leaders who are strategizing how to respond to Trump's actions.

Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, formally announced Wednesday the organization and its partners plan to identify two companies in the next 90 days that will be boycotted for abandoning DEI pledges. Reuters first reported the coordinated action ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Basil Smikle Jr., a political strategist and policy adviser, said he was troubled by the Trump administration's assertion that diversity programs were "diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination" because it suggested women and people of color lacked merit or qualifications.

"There's this clear effort to hinder, if not erode, the political and economic power of people of color and women," Smikle said.

"What it does is opens up the door for more cronyism," he said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters to address criticism from civil rights advocates.

Separately, the Trump administration instructed US federal government departments and agencies to dismantle all DEI programs, advising employees of such programs that they would be immediately placed on paid leave.

The government should by the end of business on Wednesday inform employees of any government offices or units focused exclusively on DEI that their programs will be shut down and employees placed on leave, the Office of Personnel Management said in a memorandum.

The Tuesday memo also included a template for agency heads to use, encouraging federal employees to report alleged attempts by "some in government to disguise" continued use of DEI programs and initiatives "by using coded or imprecise language." A directive, using nearly identical wording, was distributed Wednesday to staff at various federal agencies and departments, including the State Department, according to a memo viewed by Reuters.

Trump also signed a memorandum on Tuesday that ends a Biden administration initiative to promote diversity in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), ordering the FAA administrator to immediately stop DEI hiring programs, the White House said.

Trump ordered the FAA to conduct a safety review that would replace any employees who fail to demonstrate their competence.

"President Trump is immediately terminating this illegal and dangerous program and requiring that all FAA hiring be based solely on ensuring the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence," the White House said in a fact sheet.