From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Devon Westhill

Classic American companies like John Deere, Harley Davidson and Tractor Supply Co. are finally reevaluating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. They are realizing that their consumers, many from rural, midwestern and working-class communities, don’t care for the DEI practices of corporate elites. They just want good service, reliable tractors and badass motorcycles.

The about-face is especially timely as the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action decision prohibiting race-based college admissions has increased scrutiny of private sector DEI practices. This new legal climate, combined with the discovery of problematic DEI programs at major American companies, means that corporations are at long last feeling significant pressure to prioritize excellence and efficiency over faddish diversity metrics.

Companies operating in the free market have one purpose: to provide quality goods and services to consumers in order to make a profit. For too long, much of corporate America has focused on virtue signaling to appease the left’s cultural mandates. Now, business incentives are forcing a return to the bottom line.

The change began in June when conservative commentator Robby Starbuck took to social media to expose companies masquerading as all-American brands with traditional values. He first exposed Tractor Supply’s DEI practices and announced that he would be investigating a list of other companies considered exemplars of Americana.

In response, Tractor Supply customers began boycotting the company, resulting in an 8% decrease in its stock price (a $2.8 billion market value loss) over five days. This led Tractor Supply to announce later that month the termination of its DEI programming. The company promised to stop submitting data for the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and withdrew sponsorship of LGBTQ+ pride events and voting campaigns, calling them “nonbusiness activities.”

Starbuck’s later exposure of John Deere’s DEI policies also caused the company to issue a statement announcing major cutbacks to their DEI programs. Harley Davidson, Jack Daniels and Lowe’s followed suit, preemptively terminating their DEI programs and standards.

All of these companies should be commended for abandoning excessive DEI and getting back to business.

Now, instead of requiring costly, time-intensive programs to prove their liberal bona fides, they can focus on delivering results for their customers. Free from worry about optics and bureaucratic compliance, they can hire the most qualified employees and let them rise to the top.

But these decisions are not without their naysayers. DEI proponents have labeled these moves as bullying from far-right extremists and claim that terminating these policies will encourage gender and race discrimination in the workplace.

This hysteria is unwarranted and relies on the absurd claim that without DEI standards, there can be no equality, inclusion or respect in the workplace. Of course, it is crucial that businesses cultivate a culture of respect and dignity. Employees should be educated on their protections and duties regarding civil rights and basic civility in the workplace. All of the companies reversing on DEI have remained committed to fostering respectful, safe cultures for their employees.

In fact, too much corporate DEI can wreak havoc on a company’s morale. In many cases, it can result in scapegoating certain groups of people for grievous wrongs none of them had a hand in committing. It can also lead to damaging intellectual conformity and groupthink. DEI hiring quotas, in particular, can lead to serious legal risk. All of this results in the complete opposite of DEI’s purported goals. Instead, it increases workplace disunity and harms true diversity.

Ultimately, the DEI policies at these classic American companies have proven to only burden corporations, frustrate employees and confuse customers. Companies should prioritize producing better quality products, lowering prices, and offering attractive wages and benefits for all employees, instead of pouring time and money into ineffective policies that do not represent the American values of their customer base. So long, discrimination disguised as diversity.

Devon Westhill is the president and general counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity.

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Several retired CBP officials have pointed out that not all Canadian border crossers are native-born but include foreign nationals who received Canadian travel documents.

The greatest number of Canadians who’ve illegally entered the U.S. or attempted to illegally enter in recorded U.S. history has been reported under the Biden-Harris administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s administration.

Since fiscal 2021 through July 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 150,701 Canadians illegally entered or attempted illegal entry into the U.S.

The majority were apprehended at the US-Canada border, followed by other locations nationwide, with a small number at the US-Mexico border, according to the data.

The greatest number of Canadians encountered or apprehended by CBP or Border Patrol agents was 47,126, in fiscal 2022. U.S. officials at the northern border reported the most, 40,600. But Canadians aren’t always apprehended at the northern border. The next greatest number reported was nationwide at 6,413, followed by 113 at the southwest border.

In fiscal 2023, the numbers were slightly less, totaling 44,700, with the majority reported at the northern border of 37,169, followed by 7,431 nationwide and 100 at the southwest border.

These numbers are up significantly from fiscal 2021, of 22,371. The majority in 2021, 16,193, were reported at the northern border, followed by 6,178 nationwide and 76 at the southwest border.

The overwhelming majority are single military age adults.

Several retired CBP officials have pointed out that not all Canadian border crossers are native-born but include foreign nationals who received Canadian travel documents. Canadian citizens for years have legally traveled to the U.S. for work and as tourists.

Another record-breaking number coming from Canada is over 1,100 individuals on the U.S. terrorist watch list, referred to as known or suspected terrorists (KSTs), who attempted to illegally enter the US-Canada border since fiscal 2021, The Center Square first reported.

This is the greatest number in U.S. history under any administration. They total more than a U.S. Army battalion.

They are being apprehended by U.S. authorities, not Canadians. They include an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman previously arrested by Texas officials for claiming to threaten to kill former President Donald Trump.

Canadian authorities claim to thoroughly vet so-called refugees when permitting entry. One granted entry in 2018 was a member of ISIS who was granted citizenship this year and went on to allegedly plot a terrorist attack against Canadians, The Center Square reported.

Some members of the Canadian Parliament continue to express alarm about increasing terrorist threats under the Trudeau government after the ISIS member was only arrested after French authorities notified Canadian authorities about his alleged terrorist connection. Another recent example is Canadian authorities taking nine years to arrest a Canadian woman on terrorism-related offenses after she traveled to Syria in 2015 to join ISIS, The Center Square reported.

More recently, a Pakistani national living in Canada was arrested after announcing his plan to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York, after publicly expressing his support for ISIS for nine months, according to a Department of Justice announcement.

Members of Congress have introduced bills to secure the northern border, created a northern border security caucus. The U.S. House impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis. Republican lawmakers have also demanded increased security after Canadian authorities expanded a visa program to Palestinians, expressing concerns about a vetting process that may not identify those who support the terrorist organization Hamas. Ushered into power by Palestinian voters in 2006, Hamas holds a majority in the Palestinian Authority’s government. The U.S. State Department designated Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997.

All officially reported CBP data excludes gotaways, those who evaded capture and illegally entered the U.S. They total over 2 million, The Center Square first reported. Officials have expressed concerns about how many unknown gotaways are in the U.S. connected to countries of foreign concern, state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations. Several hundred connected to ISIS have illegally entered the U.S., authorities confirmed this year.

Despite claims by Canadian authorities that “the Canada-U.S. border is the best-managed and most secure border in the world,” numerous U.S. border security officials disagree, telling The Center Square the CBP data alone disproves their claim.

The number of Canadian illegal border crossers is not comparable to the nearly 3 million Mexican illegal border crossers under the Obrador administration since fiscal 2021. Among them, more than 22,000 Mexicans were apprehended by U.S. federal agents after illegally entering or attempting entry from Canada.

CBP data indicates that illegal border crossers holding travel documents from Canada and Mexico, America’s NAFTA partners, appear to be circumventing U.S. immigration law.