Trump Guts Diversity Programs, USVI Fallout Unclear

How rapid-fire executive orders from new U.S. President Donald Trump will change the U.S. Virgin Islands remained unclear Wednesday evening. Government House officials were working to decipher the avalanche of dramatic federal mandates’ effects.

Trump’s myriad executive orders target government hiring, immigration and refugee programs, environmental and energy policies, civil rights, schooling and more. Many have reportedly already met legal challenges. Although the executive orders target federal employees and programs, Government House was assessing how they may intertwine with territorial operations. “We are currently working with our internal counsel and with other jurisdictions to look through the deluge of the president’s executive actions to discern which have the potential to impact our local functions,” said Richard Motta, Government House’s director of communications.

One of the most broad-reaching executive orders, disseminated Tuesday from the acting director of the Federal Office of Personnel, repealed President Joe Biden’s 2021 Executive Order 14035, which advances diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility — known as DEIA or DEI — in the federal workforce. Trump’s orders also unwound Biden’s Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. Trump’s executive orders were titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.