by Chandler Eckert

On his second day in office, President Trump issued an executive order that ends all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs under federal agencies. The order revokes a total of seven executive orders in place to specifically promote diversity and discourage hiring discrimination. Without these executive orders, businesses and federal agency jobs can now discriminate against applicants and employees based on race, gender, age, sexuality, disability and a multitude of other things. Trump’s new executive order will specifically dismantle all DEI efforts within government and federal jobs making the workplace less inclusive and more hostile towards minorities. But there is always one minority that falls into DEI that people tend to brush past – veterans.

Veterans are a vastly diverse group of people and due to this face multiple different types of discrimination daily. Hiring is a big one. Not only do veterans have to deal with hiring discrimination based on their race, gender, sexuality, disability, or age but also their status as a veteran. Trump has yet to overturn USERRA, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, an order set to criminalize the discrimination against veterans based on their status as a veteran. With the current orders he has overturned, veterans will be disproportionately affected in the hiring process.

An estimated 30% of veterans are living with a disability, which not only makes hiring more difficult but creates a significant barrier within a workplace setting. That was a main component in the DEI programs Trump recently banned. Without these programs disabled people as a whole will struggle with accessibility at these jobs, unfairly hindering their performance and thereby suggesting to employers that hiring disabled workers is not worth it. This is not only going to negatively impact disabled people in the years to come but, also a good percentage of veterans. Veterans also are not all white, cishet men. Taking away protections for any minority will always negatively affect veterans in a larger capacity. As people fight against DEI and accessibility in public spaces, they often forget that those attacks will include what should be the most respected population in the United States.