Advocates Worry DEI-Related Measures From Trump Will Lead To a 'Sort of Strange Anti-Diversity Witch Hunt'

Advocates of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) are expressing concern about the extent that the Trump administration will go to end such practices in the public and private sector, with some warning about a "witch hunt."

President Donald Trump signed on Tuesday an executive order that ends with decades of federal diversity and affirmative action practices, claiming the decision ends "illegal discrimination" and restores "merit-based opportunity."

"Roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society (...) have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) or "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation," reads a passage of the order.

The decision not only impacts the federal government and contractors that employ over 3.5 million people. It also mandates that federal agencies identify entities that have such programs and target them for civil enforcement actions. You're "empowering agencies to engage in some sort of strange anti-diversity witch hunt," Jocelyn Frye, president of the advocacy group National Partnership for Women & Families, told Axios.

The order is likely to face legal challenges, but the Trump administration is already taking internal steps to this end, Another Axios report revealed that government officials are calling on employees to report colleagues who continue to follow DEI policies.

Trump's acting agency chiefs threatened with "adverse consequences" for those who don't fall in line. "We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," a passage of the letter reads. These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination," it added. Letters were sent to employees at the Department of Homeland Security, Veteran Affairs, NASA, among other agencies.