(Headline USA) A Federal Emergency Management Agency worker has been fired after she directed workers helping hurricane survivors not to go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump, the agency’s leader said in a statement Saturday.
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said. “This was reprehensible.”
The agency did not identify the employee, nor did it say where it happened.
But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, calling it “targeted discrimination” of Florida residents who support Trump, said it happened in Florida.
DeSantis said he has directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to begin an investigation into the matter.
“The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days,” DeSantis said on social media.
“… New leadership is on the way in DC, and I’m optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired,” he added.
The blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy is yet another reason why the Biden-Harris administration is in its final days.
At my direction, the Division of Emergency Management is launching an investigation into the federal… https://t.co/3uFpE62vxb
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 8, 2024
There were no details in FEMA’s statement or DeSantis’s comments about the time frame or community where the incident occurred.
FEMA workers have been in the state helping residents recover from Hurricane Milton, which devastated many Florida communities last month.
Criswell said she is determined to hold employees accountable.
“I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again,” she said.
The agency has come under harsh attack for its mismanagement of the recent natural disasters, most notably Hurricane Helene, which walloped states including North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina in late September.
The storm flooded mountain areas, including the communities in western N.C. adjacent to the Swannanoa River, which left cities including Chimney Rock and Asheville devastated.
Many residents said they had not heard from FEMA or other agencies and complained that when community members tried to rally together, federal agencies actively thwarted those efforts at a critical time.
The hurricane, which killed more than 230 people, was one of the top-five deadliest for the region since record-keeping first began in the early 20th century.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
