*The leader of a right-wing group that published a “DEI Watchlist” of federal employees says he is thrilled that many of those named remain unemployed.
“If the Post’s reporting that the 2/3rds of the DEI staffers on the list can’t find work is accurate, we cannot overstate our joy that trafficking in anti-white bigotry now makes you unemployable,” Tom Jones, president of the American Accountability Foundation, wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “Our only regret about the watchlist is that we didn’t have the time or resources to profile more left-wing woke bureaucrats.”
Dia Harris, 53, is among those struggling to find work. He served as the first chief equity officer at the Administration for Children and Families until he was fired in 2025, despite receiving strong performance reviews. After submitting more than 560 job applications, he now assembles online grocery orders at a Harris Teeter in Maryland. He earns $16 an hour and has been dipping into his 401(k) to cover his house payments.
A recruiter privately explained why a federal contractor wouldn’t hire him. “Look,” the recruiter said. “They probably support the watch list.”
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The Post found that two-thirds of the workers on the list who left federal service remain unemployed. The Heritage Foundation-linked group launched the website in early 2025, publishing personal information on 93 people it described as “behind-the-scenes bureaucrats who push divisive DEI agendas.”
Roughly two-thirds of those named are Black, and they have found work at lower rates than their White colleagues. Jones also commented on the racial disparity. “Sounds like hiring managers are racist, that’s very disappointing,” he said.
Some workers on the watchlist also faced harassment at home, including unwanted cash-on-delivery pizza orders.
“They want you to know they know where you live,” another person on the list told Harris.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the agency is acting in accordance with President Trump’s executive order “and all applicable federal law.”
For former National Institutes of Health employee Kiana Atkins, the consequences have been personal.
“They demonized my work. They took away my livelihood,” Atkins said.
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