Report details

A federal watchdog has concluded that a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) crew violated the law and agency policy when it skipped nearly a dozen homes with Trump signs during Hurricane Milton response efforts in 2024. The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General released the report on Tuesday, finding that the crew bypassed 11 homes in Florida.

The report stated that this "eroded public trust in FEMA's ability to treat everyone impartially, offer unbiased and consistent assistance, and ensure equal access to resources and tools." The report also specifically identified violations of the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that limits certain political activities by federal employees to ensure nonpartisan administration.

The findings stem from FEMA's Disaster Survivor Assistance program, which canvassed 744,288 homes and other sites in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which struck Florida in late September and early October 2024. Of these, 555,374 locations were not contacted for reasons such as private property signs or safety concerns.

Crew lead's rationale

According to the report, the FEMA crew lead instructed team members to avoid homes with Trump signs due to safety concerns. The survey notes obtained by the inspector general's office showed that the same crew bypassed those 11 homes.

A former senior FEMA official with direct knowledge of the situation said that the crew leader did not feel safe given the heightened tension and "was looking for ways to define safety. People were not getting good guidance, so she made her own way." The official noted that most encounters with FEMA canvassers involved guns.

FEMA's response

After several FEMA workers filed a complaint, the agency started its own investigation and referred the complaint to the Office of Special Counsel and the DHS Inspector General. FEMA fired the crew leader and several other staffers.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said the report "validates the actions we took at FEMA," and that "even one home skipped is unacceptable." She noted that neighborhoods were re-canvassed and that the incident appeared isolated, citing the more than 744,000 canvassing visits and the 11 homes skipped as evidence.

A former senior FEMA official also said the incident was isolated to that crew. However, the inspector general's report also found weaknesses in FEMA's training, documentation, and oversight, including a lack of ethics and Hatch Act training before deployments and no policy requiring crews to explain why they skipped homes. The agency also lacked a formal system for reporting potential safety threats, according to the report.

Christopher Logan, FEMA's associate administrator, said the agency no longer conducts "FEMA-led door-to-door outreach efforts," and that staff now support "from fixed locations determined by state and local officials." Logan also said that after the 2024 case, FEMA provided mandatory Hatch Act and ethics training to all disaster survivor teams.

Michael Cohen, FEMA's chief of staff at the time, told The Hill that the report reinforces that the "violations were not systematic and were isolated." He said FEMA took appropriate action.

Political context

The report comes amid broader scrutiny of the political use of disaster aid. Trump has called for abolishing FEMA, and later tried to downsize it and provide limited aid to states. Politico reported in March that it's three times more difficult for Democrat-led states to obtain disaster aid for residents under the Trump administration.

In 2025, the Office of the Special Counsel found that the same 2024 actions violated the Hatch Act, according to reports.

Perspectives

  • Ron DeSantis (Florida Governor): The incident reflects a "blatant weaponization of government by partisan activists in the federal bureaucracy," blaming the Biden administration.
  • FEMA leadership: The agency maintains that the violations were isolated, not systematic, and that proper corrective actions—including firings and additional training—were taken.