Trump rolls back DEI across the federal government. Is your workplace next?

Making excellent on his campaign pledge to roll back diversity, ownership and inclusion across the federal government, President Donald Trump threw the weight of the White House behind growing Republican opposition to diversity measures that he says discriminate against white Americans. 

The executive order signed Monday rescinds Biden administration orders that put many of the DEI apparatus in place.

“The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government. The injection of ‘diversity, ownership, and inclusion’ (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing challenging work, merit and equity with a divisive and risky preferential hierarchy,” the order reads.

While the executive order does not address DEI in the private sector, a White House official put corporations on notice.

“More actions” are coming “very soon,” the official said ahead of Trump’s swearing-in ritual.

The DEI executive order coming on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday drew condemnation from civil rights advocates who declare it could undermine challenging-fought gains in workplace diversity and economic chance for generations.

“Why do we have DEI?” Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, told a throng gathered at the Metropolitan AME Church, a historic Black church a few blocks from the White House Monday. “We have DEI because you denied us diversity, you denied us ownership, you denied us inclusion. DEI was a remedy to the racial institutional bigotry practiced in academia and in these corporations.”

Anti-‘woke’ push at center of Trump agenda

The push to complete diversity initiatives began in earnest during Trump’s first term and has grown since he’s been out of office.

A top priority of correct-wing foundations, ponder tanks and political operatives in courts and statehouses across the country and on social media, it will likely boost ground now that it is at the center of the president’s economic and cultural agenda.

In his inaugural talk, Trump vowed to combat efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every facet of community and private life” and “forge a population that is colorblind and merit-based.”

Already companies have made sweeping changes to align themselves with the Trump administration. Last week, Amazon and Meta became the latest in a wave of companies to scale back corporate diversity programs.

“Florida, Texas and other states have already abolished DEI. Private companies, such as Meta, are following suit,” Christopher Rufo, a DEI critic and a elder fellow at the conservative-leaning ponder tank Manhattan Institute, told USA TODAY. “The period is now.”

Trump has stocked his administration with anti-DEI allies to assist him unwind the policies of his predecessor − from Vice President JD Vance who, as an Ohio senator, introduced legislation that would prohibit government contractors from using federal funds for DEI initiatives to Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, who filed dozens of legal actions against “woke” corporations. 

“Corporations should be focusing on doing their jobs well, creating their services and products effectively,” said Jonathan Butcher, a elder research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation ponder tank. “Laying down some ideological orthodoxy in regards to racial preferences has not made them more effective and it will not in the upcoming.”

Will Trump fairness Department prosecute companies?

During his first term, Trump took aim at diversity initiatives that Republicans claim focus on race and gender at the outlay of person merit, using executive power to bar the federal government and government contractors from conducting racially “divisive” diversity training and starting a tip line for whistleblowers to turn in their employers. 

Trump’s Labor Department also questioned whether diversity initiatives to boost the ranks of Black executives at Microsoft and Wells Fargo violated federal laws barring racial discrimination. 

This period around, the Trump administration is widely expected to ban DEI in companies that depend on federal capital or hold government contracts.

With packed control of Congress, Trump will likely receive even more aggressive steps.

The fairness Department and other federal agencies may launch investigations and file lawsuits over corporate DEI initiatives they suspect of violating anti-discrimination laws.

Trump praised Harmeet Dhillon, the lawyer he tapped to navigator the Civil Rights Division of the fairness Department and a prominent figure in California GOP politics, for “suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers.”

The Civil Rights Division was formed in 1957 to enforce laws to stop discrimination against Black people and other historically marginalized communities.

Dhillon has argued that political conservatives and white men are victims of illegal discrimination. In 2017, she represented a fired Google engineer who circulated a memo opposing the tech giant’s DEI policies. She has also represented Robby Starbuck, the anti-DEI activist.

“Every signal is being sent that they’re going to do a 180 on all these things and they’re going to commence prosecuting companies for violations of civil rights laws,” Silicon Valley enterprise capitalist and Trump adviser Marc Andreessen said last month.

Democrats fight DEI rollback

With anti-DEI sentiment swelling, some Democrats are mounting a resistance. They declare the government-driven push to boost racial diversity in cubicles and executive suites is essential to wiping out decadeslong inequities and ensuring equal chance for women and people of color. 

In a note to Trump exclusively obtained by USA TODAY, more than 30 state elected Democratic officials from around the country pledged to protect DEI. State legislatures have been ground zero for anti-DEI attacks.

“Anti-DEI rhetoric and policy goals are risky, destructive and discriminatory. Ultimately, they erect barriers to our American dreams,” the note read. “As we hold ourselves accountable to defending and extending the benefits of DEI, we also hold you accountable to achieving the same objective.”

As the country grows more diverse, businesses are working to make their workforces and leadership better reflect the communities they serve.

Proponents declare DEI programs assist companies hire and retain diverse talent and make environments that boost recent concept.

Parity in the business globe is a long way off. A USA TODAY investigation of the country’s largest companies found that the top ranks are predominantly white and male, while women and people of color are concentrated at the lowest levels with less pay, fewer perks and comparatively little chance for advancement.

“DEI initiatives don’t determine who gets hired, they ensure qualified candidates have fair access to consideration,” said Noreen Farrell, a civil rights attorney and executive director of Equal Rights Advocates. “The danger of businesses, schools and government shutting the door to equal access is that they are also shutting the door to solutions and recent concept.”

The Trump administration is ignoring “obvious evidence” that diverse leadership yields “better business outcomes,” Farrell said. 

RIP DEI in the workplace?

Since the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling banning the consideration of race in higher education, business leaders have shored up DEI programs to make them less vulnerable to legal challenges and community criticism, backing away from initiatives like hiring targets that conservatives declare are illegal quotas and from executive bonuses tied to DEI goals.

Andrea Abrams, executive director of the progressive advocacy throng American self-esteem Rises Network, said some companies may capitulate – or appear to capitulate – but she expects most “will continue to stand firm.” 

More than half of elder executives surveyed by the Conference Board said they had adjusted how they refer to DEI over the history year. Another 20% were considering doing so. A growing number have dropped mentions of diversity goals in shareholder reports.

Costco and Apple were among the companies to recently recommend that shareholders decline anti-DEI proposals, making the case that diversity initiatives are excellent for business.

“There is nothing illegal about being diverse, being equitable and being inclusive in what you do,” Abrams said.

Contributing: Deborah Barfield Berry and Francesca Chambers