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Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is expected to purge federal agencies that protect against workplace discrimination and civil rights abuses as Donald Trump’s administration guts roles across the government in a crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Since taking office, Trump put all federal DEI workers on leave. Now, DOGE will target federal workers who monitor civil rights and discrimination, according to documents obtained byThe Washington Post.
Jobs next on the chopping block are expected inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides healthcare and other benefits to veterans, and the Office of Minority Health, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services to address health disparities among minority communities.
It was reported Friday that Veterans Affairs has already dismissed more than 1,000 new employees as part of the purge.
The cuts are expected to hit roles that are not connected to DEI but which perform functions that DOGE claims are connected to DEI, as Musk and his allies falsely conflate diversity and antidiscrimination efforts as racist themselves.
“DEI Offices are statutorily mandated offices … that have been corrupted with new DEI divisions,” the document reads. “These are tagged for Phase 2. Phase 2 will identify the non-statutory branches/ DEI employees and place them on administrative leave.”
The documents reveal the scope and speed at which Musk’s department intends to move. The plans and divided into three phases, with the first focusing on rolling back DEI programs that were started under former president Joe Biden and shutting down federal agencies. Trump and Musk have already tried to dismantle, such as the U.S. Agency for International Aid and Development, while fighting off legal challenges against them.
Phase 2, according to the documents, focuses on placing staffers in non-DEI roles on leave, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Phase 3, which starts later this month, moves to mass firings; DOGE intends to terminate all DEI-affiliated staff through a large-scale reduction-in-force order.
Civil rights groups have reacted with alarm to the plans.
“Call it what it is: a plan to re-segregate the federal workforce,” Leah Greenberg, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible said in a post on BlueSky.
Leslie Proll, senior director of the voting rights program with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said: “We need to fight this with everything we’ve got.”
“It is a segregation campaign,” New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie said.
The White House said the president fully supports DOGE’s efforts.
“The White House’s position is that we are ridding the federal government of DEI, full stop,” a spokesperson told The Washington Post. “DOGE is there as a collaborator ensuring that we get rid of waste, fraud and abuse. And if DEI is waste, fraud and abuse, it’s gone.”
