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Trump’s Attack on DEI Initiatives Could Put the Kibosh on Immigrant Worker Safety Programs

The Susan Harwood Training Grants Program has trained thousands of workers, but DEI restrictions threaten the grantee's ability to reach out to immigrant workers of color.

Amir Khafagy

Feb 04, 2025

Photo courtesy Laundry Workers Center.

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Two days after President Trump took office, recipients of the Susan Harwood Training Grants Program received an email from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) asking them to cease all activities related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” 

The email came in response to President Trump’s executive orders calling for federal agencies to dismantle DEI initiatives. The orders not only call for the federal government to end DEI programs internally, but also for recipients of federal grants, awards, and funding to end DEI programs. 

The program’s future was put further in doubt when, last week, the Trump administration issued a memo that temporarily froze funding for 2,600 federal programs and grants, including programs related to workplace safety. 

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Although the administration reversed its decision after much uproar and a federal judge had temporarily blocked it, organizations that offer workers training and safety education could still see their funding cut because of the administration’s opposition to DEI initiatives.   

The vagueness in OSHA’s email left many worker’s rights organizations in New York scrambling as they wondered what would be considered DEI and what wouldn’t. Many told Documented that they train undocumented workers and aren’t sure if that would be a reason to cut their funding. 

The new orders have left nonprofits that serve Black and Latino workers, and who depend on federal grants to fund their outreach, unsure if they will be able to continue their programs without financial support.

Jessica E. Martinez, executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH), says that by restricting DEI policies, organizations like hers would not be able to effectively reach the most vulnerable workers, like undocumented immigrants who may need workplace training in languages other than English. 

Also Read: Big Business Is Trying to Kill New Pro-Worker OSHA Rule

“Grantees are now unable to focus on outreach to specific populations that experience statistically higher rates of fatalities and injuries including immigrants and people of color because there has been targeting of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies,” she said.

Founded in 1978, the Susan Harwood grant was established by OSHA to distribute grants to worker-focused organizations to train workers and employers on occupational safety and health hazards. They also inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities.

Since 2001, the OSHA program has trained approximately 1.8 million workers. Recipients of their grants also work to provide vital training and educational resources to workers regarding workplace safety.

Currently, OSHA has distributed $12.7 million in grants to 102 nonprofits nationwide to fund education and training initiatives. Among the grantees are community and faith-based groups, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor-management associations, Native American tribes, and local and state-sponsored colleges. 

Organizations like the Oakland-based Asian Immigrant Women Advocates received a grant to provide Asian workers with chemical hazards and hazards communication training in English, Chinese, and Nepali. Latino Worker Resource Center in Chicago received grant funding to conduct workplace fall prevention training in both English and Spanish. In New York, the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, a National COSH affiliate, received funds to conduct bilingual English and Spanish safety trainings for nail salon workers.  

However, according to advocates, the ability of those organizations to continue their work could be in peril if OSHA requires them to end programs that specifically focus on immigrant communities of color.  

“A freeze on this funding directly jeopardizes those essential training programs,” said Martinez. “We are a nonprofit with limited resources and we are small but mighty but we are dependent on grants to be able to roll out our programs, so not having this funding impacts our reach.”

Also Read: Site Safety Training: Where To Take Free Classes To Earn A SST Card

Workplace safety education is especially vital for immigrant Asian and Latino workers. Despite immigrant Latino workers only making up 7.9% of the total workforce in 2020, they accounted for 26.3% of workplace deaths due to falls, slips, and trips according to data obtained by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2021, the Bureau found that 64.3% of Latino worker fatalities and 84.3% of Asian worker deaths were disproportionately immigrant workers. 

To reach those workers, organizations like National COSH need to do specific outreach to immigrant communities and conduct training in multiple languages. But under OSHA’s new anti-DEI mandate, Martinez fears language-specific training would be done away with. 

“From my perspective, language justice, which we are also committed to, is also part of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she said. “It could be specifically targeted and it could be interpreted that way.”

It’s still unclear what OSHA will determine as a DEI program and how they will interpret the president’s executive order.

A U.S. Department of Labor spokesperson declined Documented’s request for comment.

Amir Khafagy

Amir Khafagy is an award-winning New York City-based journalist. He is currently a Report for America corps member with Documented. Much of Amir's beat explores the intersections of labor, race, class, and immigration.

@AmirKhafagy91

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