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US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told a Cabinet meeting Monday that the department would move to “eliminate” the government’s disaster relief agency, days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing state and local governments to “play a more active and significant role” in responding to catastrophes.
Noem, whose department oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has previously vowed to “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today;” Trump has said he would close the agency entirely, but that would require an act of Congress.
The agency has long enjoyed bipartisan support, however: “FEMA can’t go away,” Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy told reporters in January, citing its primary role in “protect[ing] people and property.”
The remarks came after FEMA imposed a hiring freeze last week. The administration plans to begin a “full-scale review” of the agency’s practices next month.
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Since Trump’s inauguration, the administration has wrapped FEMA into a broader crackdown on immigration. A White House report first shared with Semafor in January zoomed in on FEMA’s migrant aid work, while a separate memo sent to senior agency officials in February ordered employees to review “all disaster relief programs that may indirectly or incidentally aid illegal aliens.”