Judge blocks Trump administration directive to cut half of FEMA’s workforce

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.U.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. Recommended Stories “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. “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.President 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.JUDGE RULES AGAINST TRUMP’S FIRING OF FEMA CFOTrump’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.The 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.