Disability rights activists swiftly condemned President Donald Trump’s remarks on Thursday in which he blamed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts and, specifically, disabled people for the deadly American Airlines plane crash that took place in Washington, DC.

On Wednesday night, a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter collided near Ronald Reagan National Airport. There were a total of 67 people on the flight, and no one is expected to have survived.

Following the fatal crash, Trump decided to peddle his anti-DEI talking points and blamed such initiatives for the incident.

“The [Federal Aviation Association] is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website,” Trump said Thursday at a press conference. “Brilliant people have to be in those positions.”

In response, New Disabled South, an organisation dedicated to advancing disability rights and justice in Southern states, released a statement on social media calling Trump’s assertion “dangerous, repugnant, morally reprehensible.”

“DEl did not cause a plane crash,” the organisation added. “This is infuriatingly ableist and racist garbage. In our greatest moment of need, we are once again abandoned by the very people meant to lead.”

The American Association of People with Disabilities also shared a statement on social media regarding Trump’s remarks.

“FAA employees with disabilities did not cause last night’s tragic plane crash. DEI hiring did not cause last night’s plane crash,” the organisation said. “Using this tragedy to push the President’s anti-diversity hiring agenda is inappropriate and wrong. It does nothing to make Americans safer.”

During the Obama administration, a biographical questionnaire was implemented as a screening tool at the FAA to broaden recruitment and encourage diversity. The White House issued a memo last week on an executive order regarding the FAA’s DEI efforts, stating that the Biden administration sought to recruit and hire disabled people that could “impact the execution of their essential life-saving duties.”

Mia Ives-Rublee, senior director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said in a statement to HuffPost that Trump was “deflecting the blame of a horrific midair collision on disabled employees and other employees hired under DEI programs.”

“All disabled employees are required to be able to perform all essential job requirements without accommodations,” Ives-Rublee added, referencing an existing initiative created in the 1980s called Schedule A, which helps hire severely disabled people in the federal government.

“Trump should be looking to investigate the tragedy and provide comfort to the families, not punch down to advance his political agenda with zero evidence,” she said.

Upon returning to office last week, Trump signed a slate of executive orders, including crackdowns on DEI efforts within the federal government to shift to “merit-based opportunity.”