Fema employees who criticized Trump cuts reinstated after months on leave | Trump administration
Fourteen employees of the US 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 a federal council formed to help determine Fema’s future, was written as a rebuke of workers against the dangerous erosion of America’s ability to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of Katrina, the catastrophic storm that killed 1,833 people and devastated parts of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005, it served as a warning that the stage was set for history to repeat itself.
More than 190 current and former Fema employees signed the letter. Thirty-six signed their names. Those who were still actively employed at the agency were placed on indefinite paid administrative leave the next day.
The group was reinstated briefly in December before being fired, a setback that a DHS spokesperson at the time blamed on “bureaucrats acting outside their authority.”
Abby McIlraith, a Fema emergency management specialist who is among the reinstated workers, said the group received emails Wednesday asking them to return to work. On Thursday, she was back at the Fema office in Maryland, waiting to regain access to her work devices. “I feel pretty vindicated,” she said. “We did the right thing.”
Their reinstatement marks one of several reversals by new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — a signal that he may be moving away from the tougher approach toward Fema taken by his predecessor, Kristi Noem, before she was fired as DHS leader.
Pressed by Democratic Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey on the fate of the suspended staffers during his Senate confirmation hearing last month, Mullin called the whistleblowers’ retaliation illegal and pledged to work “within the law.”
Mullin also reversed Noem’s policy of her office approving any DHS spending above $100,000, and released more than $1 billion in overdue Fema grants and reimbursements to states, tribes and territories since he 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 administrator as required by law; and cuts to mitigation programs, preparedness training, and Fema staffing. Many of the concerns expressed in the letter remain.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in national preparedness funding were cut in 2025, and Fema lost about a third of its full-time staff – including experienced leaders – to layoffs, retirements and resignations. The letter also called for Fema to be removed from DHS and restored to the status of a cabinet-level agency.
The agency is still in serious trouble for upcoming high-risk seasons of hurricanes, extreme heat and fires, according to staff and emergency management experts.
“I’m very happy that these career civil servants are getting their due and returning to work,” said a former Fema employee who spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity. “But it may be too little, too late.”
Experts say the worst effects may not become apparent until disaster strikes.
There have already been serious delays in distributing aid 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 after the Guadalupe River in Texas surged through a summer camp and nearby communities last July, a flood that killed more than 135 dead.
When deadly tornadoes struck the Midwest and Great Plains in March, state and local search and rescue teams had to deploy without key tornado tracking tools because a $200,000 Fema contract expired in February.
The former employee said: “When you think about the potential lives lost and the people who weren’t healed because they didn’t get the help they needed because there were fewer people in the workplace… what did all of that accomplish, other than put us in a weaker position when it comes to responding to disasters?
Donald Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly called on states to take more responsibility for disaster response and preparedness, but most are not equipped to take over. It could take years to make key changes, according to Bill Turner, director of emergency management at the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, who is also chair of the resilience committee of the National Emergency Management Association, a nonprofit trade association of U.S. state and territorial directors.
Trump’s budget proposal for next year would cut $1.3 billion from the grant programs that underpin state and local preparedness programs, if passed.
Fema’s future may become clearer next week, when the Trump-appointed Fema Review Board delivers its highly anticipated and months-awaited report of recommendations. He is expected to propose sweeping changes to the agency.
McIlreath said she was paying close attention to the board’s proposed changes and was not discouraged by what happened to her and her colleagues. She said, “Until FEMA’s capabilities are restored and disaster survivors are served, I will continue to speak out. »
The Associated Press contributed to this report
