Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Sep 13: A US federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration’s efforts to sharply reduce staffing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were illegal, marking a major victory for federal workers’ unions challenging the government’s plans.
US District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it revoked FEMA’s authority to renew contracts for its on-call disaster response teams.
The judge also criticised officials for deleting Signal messages that could have been relevant evidence in the lawsuit.
The Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery teams, known as CORE, account for about 40 per cent of FEMA’s workforce. The teams are often among the first federal personnel deployed during hurricanes and other major disasters, with many workers involved in aid distribution and long-term funding for states and communities.
CORE employees traditionally served two- to four-year contracts that were routinely renewed. However, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to downsize the federal government in 2025, DHS restricted FEMA to renewing the contracts for periods of up to 180 days while considering a longer-term plan to reduce the agency's size.
In January, DHS instructed FEMA to allow at least some of the contracts to expire, effectively forcing employees out as their terms ended.
The measures formed part of a broader Trump administration effort to overhaul FEMA, reduce its workforce and shift greater responsibility for disaster response and recovery to state governments.
The administration has argued that FEMA is ineffective, partisan and bloated. However, a 2023 Government Accountability Office report found that the agency was already facing a staffing shortfall of more than 6,000 employees.
Although FEMA is part of DHS, Congress passed legislation in 2006 stating that the homeland security secretary “may not substantially or significantly reduce” FEMA’s authorities, responsibilities or functions.
Illston noted that DHS had been exempted from President Donald Trump’s January 2025 hiring freeze, but the department subsequently interpreted “new hires” under the freeze to include renewals of FEMA CORE contracts.
“There is no evidence in the record reflecting reasoned decision for this about-face or for the subsequent conditions DHS placed on FEMA’s renewal authority,” Illston wrote while referring to DHS’ decision to revoke FEMA’s authority to renew CORE appointments.
A FEMA spokesperson said the agency continued to maintain a roster of experienced leadership and support staff across its headquarters and regional offices.
“We’re ensuring workforce stability and a strong, deployable force for upcoming national events and potential disasters; making the agency leaner, faster and laser-focused on supporting state, local, tribal and territorial partners before, during and after disasters,” the spokesperson said.
In a separate filing, Illston also found that the use of Signal, a secure messaging application, by former acting FEMA head Karen Evans and former DHS deputy chief of staff Joseph Guy violated federal law and department policy.
According to the judge, Evans created a Signal chat that “would appear to be highly relevant to this case” and configured its messages to automatically delete after four weeks. In March, after she had been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Evans shortened the auto-delete period.
Evans created a backup of her Signal messages in April 2026, but Illston said many of the most timely messages had already been deleted by then. The court found that Evans’ actions were intentional.
“Evans should have known better,” Illston wrote, noting that she had previously served as DHS Chief Information Officer and was responsible for the agency’s records preservation policies.
The judge barred the administration from relying in future proceedings on previous testimony denying plans to dramatically reduce FEMA staffing or DHS’ involvement in the matter.
Illston said the court would presume in further proceedings that the lost Signal messages would have been unfavourable to the defendants because they could have provided further evidence of the government’s plan, DHS’ control and the actions taken to implement it.
The rulings are a victory for the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO, which brought the lawsuit. However, Illston did not determine what remedies the government should provide and instead directed the parties to reach an agreement on the scope of relief.
The unions had sought cancellation of all non-renewal notices issued to CORE employees since the beginning of the year, restoration of affected employees to their positions and an order preventing FEMA from implementing a plan to cut its workforce by 50 per cent.
Illston said such relief would be too broad because FEMA was no longer systematically refusing to renew CORE contracts and there was currently no indication that the agency was otherwise implementing the plan to halve its workforce.
However, she said DHS “continues to usurp FEMA’s authority” by ordering the agency to offer contracts of up to 180 days.