The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been accused of changing the position of its former diversity officer as president, Donald Trump Ordered federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) employees will be placed on paid leave.
“The ATF is under orders from @realdonaldTrump to place DEI employees on furlough, instead renaming their DEI officers. They are attacking citizens’ rights, ignoring leadership, and acting as if they are above the law. Enough is enough. Time to abolish the ATF! Rep. Eric Burlison posted on X.
The ATF, a federal law enforcement agency under the umbrella of the Department of Justice, previously employed Lisa T. Boykin as the Chief Diversity Officer before her title was changed on the ATF’s website this week to “senior executive” with the ATF. An archived link from the ATF’s website that was reviewed by Fox Digital Shows Boykin was listed as the Chief Diversity Officer as recently as Tuesday — Trump’s second day in the Oval Office — and now shows her as working as a “senior executive” of the desk.
During his campaign, Trump ran against DEI programs and offices at the federal level, as well as in the education system. Upon taking office on Monday, he an executive order. “Illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government, by whatever name they appear.”
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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The next day, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) told agency and department leaders to close DEI offices and place DEI employees on paid leave.
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Lisa T. Boykin’s official photo for ATF. (ATF)
“Send a notification to all employees of Diversity, equity, inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices they are placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/terminate all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs,” the OPM directive, which was obtained by Fox News Digital , read.
A 2023 biography for Boykin showed that she began working as ATF’s Human Resources Operations Division in 2016 and “as collateral duty, in 2021, Ms. Boykin also began serving as the Bureau’s Chief Diversity Officer,” the New York Post reported .
“With the Bureau’s continued focus on improving Deia, Ms. Boykin currently assumes the work of the CDO in a full-time capacity, leading and implementing department programs and mandates while bringing the renewed vision and effective strategies to a informed DEIA culture for the Bureau,” Boykin’s bio added.
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Asked about the title change and subsequent criticism on social media, an ATF spokesperson said the agency has followed DEI guidelines from the Trump administration.
The ATF seal. (Photo by Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images)
“ATF began implementing OPM’s initial guidance on DEIA immediately upon issuance on January 21, 2025 in response to the The President’s Executive Orders. We have proactively taken the necessary steps to ensure compliance with these guidelines, including placing affected personnel on administrative leave,” an ATF spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital requested clarification on whether Boykin’s new title protects her from administrative leave, but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Boykin on her ATF email and received an automated response, noting that she was unavailable to respond.
“I am currently unavailable and cannot return emails at this time,” the email said.
Social media commentators and critics of the BIDEN administration’s diversity initiatives have slammed the ATF employee’s title change on social media, slamming the agency for “circumventing” the Trump administration’s orders.
Biden championed diversity initiatives under his administration and rolled back the first Trump administration’s policy that banned diversity training in government agencies during his first week in office in 2021.
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“In the coming weeks, I will reaffirm the federal government’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and accessibility, building on the work we began in the Obama-Biden administration. That’s why I am supporting the previous harmful ban government on diversity and sensitivity training,” Biden said in January 2021. “Unity and healing must start with understanding and truth, not ignorance and lies.”
