Miami
A federal judge blocked the plan to cut FEMA’s workforce in half
Judge Susan Illston deemed illegal the Trump administration’s proposal to cut thousands of positions at the emergency agency. The ruling responded to a union lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security.
A federal judge in the United States declared illegal the plan promoted by the administration of Donald Trump to reduce the staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by 50%, according to court documents cited by El País.
The decision was signed by Susan Illston, of the Northern District of California, in ruling in favor of a lawsuit filed by the American Federation of Government Employees against a proposal by the Department of Homeland Security to reduce FEMA’s staffing to 11,500 workers out of a total of 23,000 by the end of fiscal year 2026.
According to the ruling, the judge found that the Department of Homeland Security, whose secretary at the time was Kristi Noem, acted illegally by moving ahead on FEMA’s authority regarding its personnel.
Because the cut was not fully implemented, the judge ordered the parties to meet to define how to correct the situation raised in the lawsuit. FEMA is the agency responsible for distributing resources for the recovery of communities affected by disasters such as hurricanes, fires and floods.
El País also noted that, although the most severe adjustments were not carried out, FEMA sidelined 4,300 employees during fiscal year 2025, the first year of Trump’s term. According to the Government Accountability Office, that figure represented an annual increase of 55% in the agency’s staff departures.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
