The newly created Director of Immigrant Affairs will make as much as $148,000 a year.
Newly re-elected President Donald Trump has spent his first days back in office rooting out diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from the federal government. The administration is also conducting operations to remove illegal immigrants accused or convicted of violent crime from the country.
While many local and state elected officials are acknowledging they must follow the law and not hinder federal immigration enforcement, the politicians of Montgomery County are going a completely opposite direction, hiring multiple DEI employees and an immigrant affairs director.
The county’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion began in 2021, with a single employee, Donna Richemond, who said the objective was to assist the county in “efforts of being more inclusive to both employees and community members.”
Days after Trump issued an executive order removing DEI programs and reassigning federal workers, Montgomery County announced they were hiring two deputy DEI chiefs under the current employee. Jamila Winder, the vice chair of the county Board of Commissioners, hailed the hires, saying “Montgomery County will continue to be a leader in creating a community that is inclusive, supportive, and equitable for all.”
Among the responsibilities for the two new DEI deputies are to “improve internal awareness, leadership development, training efforts, and equitable treatment in the workplace, by offering more programs to address issues such as equity-minded decision-making and unconscious bias”
Not to be outdone, the county also hired a director of immigrant affairs, who will be making somewhere between $98,645 and $147,965, coming from public funds. When discussing the proposed role, Commissioner Chairman Neil Makhija referenced the Trump administration’s efforts to secure the border, saying “It’s really important for us to be doing that now at a time where there’s tremendous uncertainty about what is happening at the federal level.” The director of immigrant affairs will “support and enhance the economic, civic, and social integration of immigrant communities across Montgomery County.”
Trump’s executive order banning DEI practices in the federal government argues they “violate the text and spirit” of civil rights laws and “undermine national unity.” Federal workers have used private social media groups to complain about the executive order, saying it’s akin to efforts in the 1950s to root out communists in the government.
