Fema employees who criticized Trump cuts reinstated after months on leave | Trump administration
Fourteen employees of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency returned to work this week after spending eight months on administrative leave for signing a public letter criticizing the Trump administration.
The so-called “Katrina declaration,” sent last August to members of Congress and the federal council created to help determine Fema’s future, was written as a workers’ rebuke for the dangerous erosion of the United States’ capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Katrina, the catastrophic 2005 storm that killed 1,833 people and devastated New Orleans and parts of the Gulf Coast, the storm served as a warning that the stage was being set for history to repeat itself.
More than 190 current and former Fema employees signed the letter. Thirty-six people signed their names. Those who were still actively working in the institution were placed on indefinite paid administrative leave one day later.
The group was briefly reassigned in December and sent back for separation; a DHS spokesman at the time blamed “bureaucrats acting beyond their authority.”
Fema emergency management expert Abby McIlraith, who was among the rehired workers, said the group received emails instructing them to return to work on Wednesday. He was back at the Fema office in Maryland on Thursday, waiting to regain access to his work devices. “I feel pretty vindicated,” he said. “We did the right thing.”
Their reinstatement marks one of many rollbacks by new homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin; It’s a sign that she may be moving away from the tougher approach to Fema that her predecessor, Kristi Noem, took before she was ousted as DHS leader.
Pressed by Andy Kim, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, about the fate of suspended staffers at his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Mullin called retaliation for whistleblowers illegal and vowed to work “within the law.”
Mullin also reversed Noem’s policy that her office approve any DHS spending over $100,000, freeing up more than $1 billion in accumulated Fema grants and reimbursements to states, tribes and territories since she was sworn in last month.
The $100,000 policy was one of several actions criticized in the public letter. Others include DHS’s decision to reassign some Fema employees to Immigration and Customs Enforcement; failure to appoint a qualified Fema manager as required by law; and cuts to mitigation programs, readiness training, and the Fema workforce. Many of the concerns expressed It remained in the letter.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of national preparedness funding was cut in 2025, and Fema lost nearly a third of its full-time staff, including experienced leaders, through layoffs, retirements and resignations. The letter also called for Fema to be removed from DHS and returned to a cabinet-level agency.
The agency is still severely hampered by upcoming high-risk seasons for hurricanes, extreme temperatures and fires, according to staff and emergency management experts.
“I am very happy that these career civil servants have received their due and are back to work,” a former Fema worker who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity said. “But it may be too little, too late.”
Experts say the worst effects may not occur until disaster strikes.
already exists serious delays in aid It was distributed to communities affected by Hurricane Helene, which hit the southeastern United States in 2024. It took administration officials more than 72 hours to authorize the deployment of federal search-and-rescue teams last July after the Guadalupe River in Texas overflowed its banks at a summer camp and killed more than 135 people in nearby communities.
When deadly tornadoes hit the Midwest and Great Plains in March, state and local search and rescue teams had to be deployed without significant hurricane monitoring toolsBecause a $200,000 Fema contract was allowed to expire in February.
The former employee said: “When you think about the potential lives lost and the people not being able to recover because they can’t get the help they need because there are fewer people at work…what good has any of this done other than putting us in a weaker position to respond to disasters?”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has repeatedly called on states to take more responsibility for disaster response and preparedness, but many are ill-equipped to fill the gap. It could be years before significant changes are made, according to Bill Turner, director of emergency management for Connecticut’s department of emergency services and public protection, who also serves as chairman of the resilience committee for the National Emergency Management Association, a nonprofit professional association for U.S. state and territory administrators.
Trump’s budget proposal for next year, if passed, would cut grant programs to increase preparedness at the state and local level by $1.3 billion.
Fema’s future could become clearer next week, when the Trump-appointed Fema Review Council delivers its highly anticipated and months-overdue recommendation report. Sweeping changes are expected to be proposed at the agency.
McIlreath said he was paying close attention to the changes the council proposed and was not put off by what happened to him and his colleagues. He said: “Until FEMA’s capabilities are restored and disaster survivors are served, I will continue to speak out.”
Associated Press contributed reporting
