Employees of diversity, equity and inclusion programs are to be placed on administrative leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Agencies were told to make plans for layoffs.

Trump’s administration moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal DEI staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off—the first salvo in an aggressive campaign to upend DEI efforts nationwide.

The Office of Personnel Management — the government’s top human resources agency – notified federal department heads in a memo that DEI program employees must be notified by 5 p.m. Wednesday