FEMA personnel are redeployed to ICE during hurricane season under Trump administration's orders
FEMA Staffing Shortages Worsen as Employees Are Transferred to Support ICE
There are growing concerns about FEMA's staffing shortages during hurricane season due to the transfer of FEMA employees to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration enforcement duties. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has temporarily reassigned about 100 FEMA human resources and security staff to help ICE hire 10,000 new officers during the peak of hurricane season.
FEMA is already short about 2,000 workers due to prior federal workforce cuts and resignations related to possible agency restructuring. This redeployment has raised fears about FEMA’s ability to respond effectively to multiple or severe storms, especially given the season's high demand for quick and large-scale emergency response.
The timing of these transfers could leave FEMA understaffed at a critical moment during the U.S. hurricane season, according to former FEMA officials. More than 100 people have been transferred from DHS's human resources department and security team to ICE, according to The Washington Post. FEMA employees who received transfer orders were given a seven-day deadline to accept or decline the reassignment, with potential termination if they declined or failed to report for duty.
DHS is adopting an "all-hands-on-deck" strategy to recruit 10,000 new ICE agents. The spending package passed by Congress in July provides a significant funding increase for ICE, including money to hire 10,000 new ICE officers over five years. ICE is attempting to rehire retired personnel and recruit officers from other law enforcement agencies.
While DHS states that FEMA remains fully prepared and that the temporary staff details “will NOT disrupt FEMA’s critical operations,” the staffing reductions come amid a broader context of agency downsizing and increased pressure to expand immigration enforcement capacity. This situation continues to fuel debate about prioritization of federal resources and the potential impact on disaster response capabilities during an active hurricane season.
Critics, including House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie G. Thompson, have warned this diversion of FEMA personnel to immigration enforcement could impair disaster preparedness and have deadly consequences, likening it to jeopardizing progress made since Hurricane Katrina. Deanne Criswell, who headed FEMA during President Joe Biden's administration, expressed concern that the reassignments might not be voluntary and that many affected staff would decline, worsening staffing shortages ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season's peak next month.
The deployment of FEMA employees to other parts of DHS, including for immigration efforts, has been on a voluntary basis in the past, according to Deanne Criswell. However, the current situation, driven by the Trump administration's aim to deport record numbers of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, has led to compulsory transfers for some FEMA staff. The Trump administration has also proposed shrinking or shutting down FEMA, adding to the overall uncertainty about the agency's future.
[1] The Washington Post. (2021, August 3). FEMA is transferring employees to help ICE hire 10,000 new immigration officers, raising concerns about the agency’s disaster response capabilities. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/08/03/fema-is-transferring-employees-to-help-ice-hire-10000-new-immigration-officers-raising-concerns-about-the-agencys-disaster-response-capabilities/
[2] Thompson, B. G. (2021, August 3). Ranking Member Thompson Statement on DHS’s Decision to Transfer FEMA Personnel to ICE. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from https://homeland.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-thompson-statement-on-dhs-decision-to-transfer-fema-personnel-to-ice
[3] The Hill. (2021, August 3). FEMA transfers employees to help ICE hire 10,000 new immigration officers. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/570980-fema-transfers-employees-to-help-ice-hire-10000-new-immigration-officers
- The current redistribution of FEMA staff to assist ICE in hiring new officers has sparked discussions about the potential impact on policy-and-legislation relating to war-and-conflicts, politics, general-news, and crime-and-justice, due to concerns about FEMA's ability to respond effectively to natural disasters during hurricane season.
- As FEMA grapples with staffing shortages, transfers of employees to support ICE have raised questions about the prioritization of federal resources, particularly in the context of ongoing war-and-conflicts, politics, policy-and-legislation, general-news, and crime-and-justice, and the potential implications for disaster response capabilities.
