Yes, federal employees were told to report possible DEI jobs to the Trump administration

In his first days in office, President Trump signed dozens of executive orders, several of which dealt with ending policies focused on DEIA – diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

The Biden administration had ordered federal agencies to actively promote diversity, and offices focused on DEIA were created within those agencies. Trump has argued that by focusing on diversity the government has strayed from merit-based hiring and promotion, calling DEI programs “public waste and shameful discrimination.”

Trump ordered DEIA offices be dismantled and employees of those offices placed on paid leave, many to eventually be laid off.

Soon after the orders were issued, letters began circulating online that included instructions to federal employees to aid in the dismantling effort by identifying and reporting any programs or positions that are DEIA-focused but may have been renamed to make their purpose less obvious.

The letters threaten employees with “adverse consequences” if they fail to report “disguised” DEIA roles within 10 days. Many VERIFY readers asked whether those instructions are real.

Did the Trump administration tell federal employees to report possible DEIA positions?

Yes, federal employees were told to report possible DEIA positions to the Trump administration.

On Jan. 21, 2025, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, Charles Ezell, issued a memo to the heads of federal agencies regarding implementation of Trump’s anti-DEIA executive orders.

VERIFY found a copy of the memo published on the website of the U.S. Chief Human Capital Officers Council, a federal government organization that advises on human resources issues.

The memo includes a “template email” for agency heads to send to their employees with instructions for reporting on possible DEIA positions. The text of the template matches that of the letters shared on social media.

“We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” the letter reads. “If you are aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances to DEIAtruth@opm.gov within 10 days”

“There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences,” the memo says.

The memo does not describe what such consequences might be.

VERIFY spoke to individuals at multiple federal agencies who confirmed they received a version of the email from their agency leadership, and obtained a copy of such an email which contains language identical to the OPM template.

The language mirrors that of Trump’s executive order, which orders all agency heads to provide a list of all “agency or department DEI, DEIA, or ‘environmental justice’ positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures in existence on November 4, 2024, and an assessment of whether these… have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function.”