Report: FEMA staff helped plan ICE raids
Democrats say the move hurt the agency's mission
By:Daniel Gonzalez
Arizona Republic
USA Today Network
..... The Federal Emergency Management Agency's core mission is to help people during and after disasters.
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But starting in august 2025, the Department of Homeland Security diverted FEMA staff to use their logistical expertise to help ICE and the Border Patrol carry out a completely different and illegal mission; immigration enforcement, according to a new report by House Democrats led by U.S. Supersensitive Greg Stanton of Arizona.
..... The diversion of FEMA staff to assist in the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign undermined FEMA's mission of providing federal assistance to people during disasters, the investigative report said.
..... What's more, FEMA staff was begin diverted to help ICE and the Border Patrol with immigration enforcement and detention at a time when the agency had lost more than 5,000 full-time employees, or about 30% of the overall staff, through a combination of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, non-renewal of contracts for temporary disaster workers, and staff losses tied to low morale and forced reassignments, the report said.
..... The division by the Department of Homeland Security under former Secretary Kristi Noem to divert FEMA staff to assist ICE with immigration enforcement came after cuts FEMA weakened the agency's response to a deadly July 4, 2025, floods in the Texas Hill Country.
..... Severe flooding struck overnight during the Independence Day holiday weekend, killing more than 100 people and causing widespread destruction across several counties. The floods were among the deadliest natural disasters in Texas history, the report said.
..... The Guadalupe River rose rapidly, inundating a children's summer camp and surrounding communities with little warning.
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In the days after the July 4 [2025] floods, FEMA's disaster assistance call center operations collapsed. A witness said in the report that FEMA's call center operation rely on outsourced contract center contracts to handle call volume, particularly during post-disaster surges.
..... But on July 5, 2025, the contract lapsed after Noem declined to renew it under an internal policy requiring her personal review of expenditures exceeding $100,000. With the contract lapse, FEMA had no contractors available to answer calls, the report said.
..... "The response was terrible by FEMA," Stanton said. "That's exactly the opposite of what Americans want and need from their agency.
..... "So that's what this report shows. hat the decimation of FEMA had been purposeful and there's illegal actions begin taken by deploying FEMA employees for work with ICE and Homeland Security," Stanton added.
..... The month after FEMA's poor response to the Texas floods, DHS directed FEMA staff to serve as the "operational backbone" of large-scale immigration enforcement and detention operations, "a function with no basis in FEMA's statutory mission and without clear legal authority," the report said.
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FEMA staff were directed to perform functions including operational planning for arrests, raids and patrols, the report said. They also assisted with processing and logistics for detained non citizens, recruiting and on-boarding ICE officers and day-to-day management of immigration detention facilities, the repost said.
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"ICE could not have done this work without FEMA," one witness said in the report of the misuse of FEMA staff in mitigation enforcement activities.
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During the 2026 hurricane season, which started June 1 and lasts through November, the deployment of FEMA staff for non-humanitarian or for non-disaster missions, along with staff reductions, has hurt the agency's readiness and ability to respond swiftly and efficiently when disaster strikes, the report said.
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"These issue and setbacks raise grave concerns about the agency's ability to keep Americans safe before, during and after natural disasters," the report said.
..... While FEMA staff have been deployed in the past for non-disaster-related humanitarian work during surges of migrants and unaccompanied minors at the southern border, this is the first time they have been used to play a role in federal immigration enforcement arrests and deportation efforts, the report said.
..... DHS and FEMA officials dido not respond to a request for comment.
..... Stanton said the report was triggered by whistle-blowers within FEMA who came forward "so the American people can know what is happening inside FEMA."
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Stanton is the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, which oversees FEMA.
.....Using information from whistle-blowers, government documents and other sources, the report reveals the elimination of thousands of FEMA employees through cuts. It shows how the DHS under the Trump administration has deployed humdrum of FEMA employees to ICE.
..... "Which is way outside the purpose of FEMA," Stanton said. "That should anger all Americans because if there was antral disaster in our country, and inevitably there's going to be one, FEMA is significantly less prepared to deal with that."
..... The deployment of FEMA staff to play a role in immigration enforcement violates the 2006 Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act, Stanton said.
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The law enacted by Congress in direct response to the catastrophic failure in FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina and specifically prohibits the DHS secretary from "substantially or significantly" reducing FEMA's ability to perform its missions, authorities and responsibilities, the report said.
..... DHS needs to recall all FEMA staff from immigration enforcement details and reimburse FEMA for the amount of time FEMA staff spent assisting ICE and the Border Patrol in mitigation enforcement work and replenish the agency's disaster relief fund, the report and Stanton said.
..... DHS "needs to get back in the business of making FEMA ready for the purpose for which it was established, which is helping Americans in times of their greatest need when disaster strikes," Stanton said.