A Federal Emergency Management Agency team broke federal law and FEMA rules by deliberately bypassing 11 Florida homes displaying signs supporting Donald Trump while conducting disaster-relief outreach following Hurricane Milton in 2024, according to a Department of Homeland Security inspector general report released Aug. 18.
The watchdog determined that a Disaster Survivor Assistance crew leader directed personnel not to approach residences displaying pro-Trump political signs. Investigators concluded that the instructions violated FEMA policy as well as the Hatch Act of 1939, which generally prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while performing their official duties.
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, FEMA personnel canvassed 744,288 residences and other locations. Agency records showed that workers made no contact at 555,374 of those locations for a variety of reasons, including residents not answering their doors, gated communities and signs identifying property as private.
When investigators examined notes connected to those records, however, they discovered 11 surveys in which FEMA workers specifically identified Trump signs as the reason they had not approached a residence. Every one of those entries came from the same FEMA crew.
The crew leader later maintained that the directive was motivated by safety concerns rather than partisan politics. She said FEMA personnel had encountered hostility while conducting disaster outreach amid the highly charged political atmosphere surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
The first record documenting such an incident was entered on Oct. 19, 2024. Four days later, another note explicitly stated, “did not visit due to Trump flag.”
FEMA’s Office of Professional Responsibility became aware of the matter on Oct. 28, 2024, after the Transportation Security Administration submitted a complaint on behalf of TSA employees who had been deployed to assist with the disaster response.
Separate investigations conducted by FEMA’s Office of Professional Responsibility and the Office of Special Counsel subsequently determined that agency personnel had violated FEMA rules and the Hatch Act.
According to investigators, the practice was able to continue for several days in part because supervisors were not required to examine the notes entered by personnel conducting outreach in the field.
The inspector general also identified shortcomings in FEMA’s training procedures, finding that the agency had failed to ensure that personnel received required instruction on ethics and the Hatch Act before being deployed. Records showed that 60% of a sample of 25 crew members and leaders had not received that training.
The watchdog said it was unable to establish whether FEMA personnel had similarly bypassed homes during other disaster-response operations because investigators no longer had access to the agency’s survey database. That access disappeared after a support contract expired in September 2025. The report attributed the lapse to then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem failing to act on a FEMA funding request before the contract ended.
The inspector general ultimately issued four recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents, including requiring standardized documentation and making ethics training mandatory before personnel are deployed for disaster-response work. FEMA agreed with all four recommendations.
{Matzav.com}
