FEMA staffers reassigned to ICE : On August 5, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, told approximately 100 staffers that they had been reassigned to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and that if they refused to comply with their reassignment, they could be fired.
The American Prospect published a copy of the email.
“If you choose to decline this reassignment, or accept but fail to report for duty, you may be subject to removal from Federal service as provided in 5 U.S.C. § 7513,” the email reads.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told The American Prospect that “select FEMA employees will temporarily be detailed to ICE for 90 days to assist with hiring and vetting” of new ICE agents. The department has said it plans to hire 10,000 new agents, and is offering new recruits a signing bonus of up to $50,000 and student loan forgiveness of up to $60,000. Although the agency claims it’s been inundated with applications, soon after launching the recruitment campaign, DHS removed age restrictions on all positions. During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Noem encouraged 18-year-olds to apply.
While ICE receives unprecedented levels of funding and embarks on a hiring spree, the Trump administration has shredded virtually every other federal agency and fired thousands of federal workers.
When it comes to FEMA, President Trump has said that disaster relief work should fall to the states and that he plans to eliminate the agency altogether. President Jimmy Carter created FEMA in 1979, and in 2003, it was moved to DHS.
“We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump said in June. “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
In April, the Trump administration eliminated FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, and sought to reallocate $4 billion in unspent funds that Congress had authorized for the program. On August 5, a federal judge temporarily blocked the administration’s plans. The program, the judge wrote in his ruling, “is designed to protect against natural disasters and save lives.” An investigation by CBS News revealed that two-thirds of the counties that lost BRIC funding went to President Trump in the 2024 election.
FEMA’s response to the deadly flash floods that tore through Central Texas on July 4 was catastrophic, in part because Noem had instituted a policy that requires her to personally sign off on expenditures over $100,000.
The New York Times reported that DHS let contracts to the companies that staff its disaster relief hotline lapse on July 5, which led to hundreds of contractors being fired. The funding for the call centers was finally restored on July 10, but by then thousands of flood victims had been unable to access assistance from the hotline. An NPR investigation revealed that on July 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 FEMA answered just over 15,000 of the approximately 55,000 calls it received.
“Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor: You’ve lost everything, you’re trying to find out what’s insured and what’s not, and you’re navigating multiple aid programs,” Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, the director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, told the Times. “One of the most important services in disaster recovery is being able to call someone and walk through these processes and paperwork.”
During this time, on July 6, Noem posted images of herself on Instagram, The Daily Beast reported. She asked her followers: “Which one do you like for the official Governor’s portrait to hang in the South Dakota State Capitol?”
Noem also delayed search and rescue efforts. Multiple sources told CNN that Noem did not approve the deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until July 7, and delayed approving the use of aerial imagery. More than 130 people died in the flooding.
“She broke it on purpose,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Florida), a former emergency manager, said of Noem during an appearance on MSNBC. “So that when it fails this summer, she can say, ‘Oh, see, we told you — FEMA doesn’t work.’”
