A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's directive for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut its workforce in half was unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston found on Friday that theDepartment of Homeland Securityacted unlawfully by taking control of FEMA's authority over its own personnel and pushing the agency to slash thousands of disaster-response jobs.

Although FEMA is under DHS, a federal law adopted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 states that the department \"may not substantially or significantly reduce (FEMA's) authorities, responsibilities, or functions.\"

Illston said the department violated the law last year when it sought to stop FEMA from renewing the temporary contracts of thousands of on-call reservists who respond to disasters.

DHS PLANS COSTLY CRACKDOWN ON STATES THAT DON’T COOPERATE ON ELECTION SECURITY

\"There is no evidence in the record reflecting reasoned decision-making for this about-face or for the subsequent conditions DHS placed on FEMA’s renewal authority,\" Illston wrote.

Illston's ruling did not include remedies or penalties, noting that those would be addressed in a separate ruling next month.

The judge said the parties have until Oct. 9 to submit briefings on \"what relief remains outstanding\" in this case.

The unions that sued argued that the planned cuts are unlawful because they would undermine FEMA's core disaster‑response mission, were not approved by Congress and were ordered by then-Homeland Security SecretaryKristi Noeminstead of FEMA officials.

The administration has contended that FEMA has considerable flexibility to determine proper staffing levels. PresidentDonald Trumphas suggested that FEMA should be eliminated and that states ⁠should handle their emergency preparedness.

In June, Illston declined to immediately block the job cuts, ruling that FEMA had at least temporarily abandoned its planned layoffs.

But on Friday, the judge wrote that FEMA appeared to be moving forward with the job cuts. She said FEMA projected its staffing levels for the upcoming fiscal year at 11,383 employees, or about half of previous levels, without any basis for picking that figure.

DEM GOV LASHES OUT AS TRUMP HUD SCRUTINIZES NEARLY $2B IN DISASTER FUNDS OVER FRAUD CONCERNS

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and FEMA for comment but they did not immediately respond.

\"Under President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin’s leadership, DHS and FEMA are ready for the 2026 hurricane season,\" a FEMA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. \"FEMA continues to maintain a roster of experienced leadership and support staff across headquarters and regional offices. No position is without experienced leadership.\"

In a separate ruling, the judge also faulted FEMA and DHS officials for using the Signal messaging app on their personal cell phones to discuss staffing cuts and deleting the messages.

Illston said the messages would have been relevant to the lawsuit and that she would now presume \"that the lost Signal messages would have been unfavorable to Defendants because they would have been further evidence\" of unlawful conduct.

Reuters contributed to this report.

",{"_280":239,"_281":318,"_282":319},"3e4ba5b7-be05-4482-bbd0-434298497dfd",{"_27":318,"_40":320,"_285":321,"_42":322,"_251":323,"_288":-5,"_29":289,"_290":324,"_292":325,"_244":326,"_80":-5,"_82":121,"_238":327,"_280":239,"_315":340},"Judge blocks Trump administration directive to cut half of FEMA's workforce","A federal judge has halted a Trump administration directive aimed at cutting the Federal Emergency Management Agency's workforce by 50%. The judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security acted unlawfully by usurping FEMA's authority over its personnel and violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act. The ruling came after unions sued, alleging the DHS planned to reduce the CORE staff, whose roles were already being de-prioritized.","A federal judge on Friday prevented a Trump administration directive from going into effect that sought to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce in half.","https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/AP26254100338124.jpg?resize=1200,683","2026-09-13T00:57:50","https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/4725078/judge-blocks-trump-administration-cut-half-fema/","politics",{"_27":328,"_296":329,"_137":298,"_80":330,"_310":337,"_311":338,"_313":339},"94d867e59d4430465aade04cd1a5022d88eaef33046c9e65a2cfcc2a0057ae7a","420d351cce9cf785ce10b80a915e94509a402d6bd3439663e2c5be50e925b0ccde9592adcd0fb0ac711d81b575f111b3dffe318d4a5cb8eb82fc6f930d82ba30",[331,332,333,335,336],[244,320],[44,323],[303,334,39,305],"30023:273e8bb9fd7425c0374f8baaf3104fc54a564adcca09161692dd60c903b72e26:3e4ba5b7-be05-4482-bbd0-434298497dfd",[307,39],[140,337,39],"273e8bb9fd7425c0374f8baaf3104fc54a564adcca09161692dd60c903b72e26","Judge blocks Trump administration directive to cut half of FEMA's workforce\nA federal judge on Friday prevented a Trump administration directive from going into effect that sought to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce in half.\n\n\nnostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzqfe73wul6ap9cqm5lza27vgyl3222e9dejsfzctf9htqeypmwt3xqqjrxef5vfsn2c3h943x2vp4956rgwpj943xyeps956rxdpj8yurgwfhv3nxgtsu7he ",1789281984,"A federal judge on Friday prevented a Trump administration directive from going into effect that sought to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s workforce in half.\n\nU.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California, who was appointed under former President Bill Clinton, ruled the Department of Homeland Security “acted unlawfully in usurping FEMA’s authority over its personnel” after unions that sued the Trump administration alleged DHS was planning a 50% workforce reduction that would include its Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) staff.\n\n“DHS acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it revoked FEMA’s long-standing authority to renew CORE requirements,” Illston said in the ruling. She found DHS violated the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, which established FEMA as a separate entity within DHS but forbids the department secretary from “substantially or significantly reducing ‘the authorities, responsibilities, or functions’” of the agency.\n\n“There is no evidence in the record reflecting reasoned decision-making for this about-face or for the subsequent conditions DHS placed on FEMA’s renewal authority,” Illston wrote.\n\nPresident Donald Trump has argued states should assume more responsibility for emergency response and has even suggested the agency be abolished. He created a FEMA-specific council shortly after being sworn in for his second term, citing a need to evaluate “whether FEMA’s bureaucracy in disaster response ultimately harms the agency’s ability to successfully respond.” The January 2025 executive order says a report outlining “a comparison of the FEMA response with State, local, and private sector responses” will be produced.\n\nTrump’s emphasis on reducing the size of the federal workforce was a prominent aspect of his first 100 days in office, as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk briefly joined the Trump administration as a special government employee to create the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to dismantle bureaucracy by identifying wasteful and fraudulent spending and downsizing government.\n\nThe CORE employees in question had already been notified their roles would not be renewed, according to the Hill, when DHS allegedly told FEMA’s management of the planned cut.",[],"selectedArticleImage","rootArticleImageUrl","consensusHtml","tweets",[],"userSchema","perspectivesColumns","intro","relatedArticles",[283,319],"actionData","errors"]

Federal Judge Blocks Plan to Halve FEMA Workforce

Cobertura de la historia