US judge rules that Trump plan to halve FEMA workforce violated law
The judge said DHS lacked authority to steer FEMA staffing and found officials deleted Signal messages tied to the disputed cuts.
- On Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully by ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut its workforce by half, usurping the Department of Homeland Security's authority over FEMA's own personnel.
- Homeland Security pushed FEMA to reduce its roughly 23,000 employees to about 11,500 by fiscal year 2026, though internal documents revealed the strategy to cut the workforce by 50 percent lacked any reasoned basis.
- Judge Illston wrote that the staffing target "appears as if pulled from thin air," while also faulting officials for using the Signal app to delete messages with auto-delete timers, presuming those lost texts would have hurt the government's case.
- Friday's ruling did not include immediate penalties or remedies, but the court ordered both sides to confer on relief and report back by October 9, with a separate decision expected next month.
- The American Federation of Government Employees challenged the layoffs, arguing they violate federal law adopted after Hurricane Katrina that prohibits significant reduction of FEMA's authorities and threaten its core disaster-response mission.
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Federal judge rules Trump admin plan to cut FEMA workforce in half is unlawful – Democratic Accent
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s directive for the Federal Emergency Management Agency... The post Federal judge rules Trump admin plan to cut FEMA workforce in half is unlawful appeared first on Democratic Accent .
Judge rules Trump administration plan to cut FEMA workforce in half was unlawful
A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration’s plan to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce by 50% violated congressional protections governing the agency.
A U.S. federal judge has illegally declared President Donald Trump's administration's plan to fire 50% of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) staff, who handles disaster response, according to judicial documents released on Sunday. Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California has won a lawsuit...
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