Ranking Member Thompson Statement on Dangerous FEMA Staff Reassignments During Peak Hurricane Season
(WASHINGTON) – Today, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS), Ranking Member of the Committee on Homeland Security, released the below statement on reports that the Trump administration is diverting FEMA personnel to support ICE raids and unlawful deportations:
“Right in the middle of hurricane season, the Department of Homeland Security is once again gutting FEMA’s core capacity—this time to advance Donald Trump’s unpopular and inhumane mass deportation agenda. DHS transferring over 100 FEMA employees out of the agency to work on immigration enforcement is dangerous and could have deadly consequences. Since January, the Trump administration has put politics first and has purged thousands of FEMA employees, leaving the agency unable to fully function or do its job.
”More FEMA employees being pushed off the job will directly impair FEMA’s ability to prepare for and respond to disasters during the most active part of hurricane season. Hurricane Katrina was twenty years ago this month, and the Trump administration cannot be allowed to repeat the failures from that tragedy that we have spent decades fixing.
”FEMA’s mission is to protect lives and communities. Carrying out anti-immigrant policies is not the job of its workforce, plain and simple. DHS must immediately reverse course before it puts more lives at risk.”
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