Washington, D.C. — Earlier this week, after Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he immediately issued executive orders that seek to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices across the federal government, civil society, and even the private sector. Buried in the Executive Order are directives to agencies and government officials to target civil society and harass businesses that disagree with Trump.
In response, Congressional Integrity Project senior advisor Kyle Herrig issued the following statement:
“After four years of Donald Trump telling us what he would do, we see that his latest executive orders on ending DEI practices isn’t just an extreme policy shift—it’s a targeted attack on our democracy, free speech, and civil society. Trump’s executive orders on ending DEI are calculated to intimidate non-profits, weaponize the governments against non-profits’ values of fairness and equality, and consolidate power into the hands of Donald Trump and his loyalists at the expense of marginalized communities. As we face the next four years, the Congressional Integrity Project remains resolute in its commitment to holding Trump and MAGA Republicans accountable for their extremism and protecting the interests of the American people.”
Additional Background:
This sweeping executive order—“Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity”—not only eliminates all DEI practices in 15 cabinet-level departments and hundreds of government agencies, but also creates the potential for the Trump-Vance administration to target entities outside of government with investigations of nonprofit, community-based organizations, and private sector companies. The order says:
- “The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work.”
- The U.S. Attorney General shall submit a report with recommendations “to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”
- Each agency must identify up to nine “potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit 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 over $1 billion.”
In fact, each agency is now required to submit plans to Stephen Miller—who is serving as Trump’s Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff overseeing domestic policy—that deter or end agencies’ enforcement of civil rights laws, recommendations for ending private sector DEI programs, and other regulatory actions.
Here’s what to know about Trump’s regressive anti-DEI executive orders:
- Vox: Trump’s sweeping new order tries to dismantle DEI in government — and the private sector
- The New York Times: Trump’s D.E.I. Order Creates ‘Fear and Confusion’ Among Corporate Leaders
- Axios: Trump rolls back bedrock civil rights measure in sweeping anti-DEI push
- Axios: Trump guts DEI, sending legal shockwaves across government, companies, schools
- BET: Trump Ends Federal Diversity Programs, Targets DEI in Bold Executive Order
- Reuters: Trump diversity order sparks pushback from attorney groups