Trump’s federal DEI purge puts hundreds on leave, nixes $420M in contracts

FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s executive order terminating all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has already sidelined 395 government bureaucrats, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital. 

Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed up by Elon Musk, wrote on X Friday that approximately $420 million in current/impending contracts, mainly focused on DEI initiatives, had also been canceled. 

After Trump signed the order on the day of his inauguration, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all DEI offices by the end of the day Wednesday, and place government workers in those offices on paid leave. It is not yet clear when or if they will be terminated.

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President Trump’s executive order terminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government has left 395 workers on paid leave, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital on Saturday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies on Tuesday evening directing them that by the end of business on Jan. 22, they were to inform all agency employees of the DEI shutdown. In addition, they were instructed to tell workers directly involved in DEI they were being placed on paid leave immediately, take down all DEI-related websites and social media accounts, cancel any related contracts or training, and ask employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI programs by using coded or imprecise language.

The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon on Jan. 23, they were to provide OPM with lists of all DEI offices, employees, and related contracts in effect as of Nov. 5, 2024.

By Friday, Jan. 24, at 5 p.m., agency heads were required to submit to OPM a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding DEI employees and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEI programs.

After Trump signed the order on the day of his inauguration, the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all DEI offices by the end of the day on Wednesday, and place government workers in those offices on paid leave. (Fox News Digital-Hannah Grossman)

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The executive order was among dozens Trump signed on his first day in office, including the government only recognizing two genders and withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. 

He also issued two other executive actions on Tuesday targeting DEI – an executive order to end discrimination in the workplace and higher education through race and sex-based preferences under the guise of DEI and a memo to eliminate a Biden administration policy that prioritized DEI hiring at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) said it had canceled around $420 million in DEI-related contracts this week. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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Trump’s Monday executive order rescinded President Joe Biden’s one on promoting diversity initiatives, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which he signed on his first day in office. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Landon Mion contributed to this report.