FEMA Workers Told to 'Avoid Homes' With Trump Signs

A supervisor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency directed disaster relief workers in Florida to "avoid homes" with signs endorsing President-elect Donald Trump, the agency confirmed on Friday.

Marn'i Washington, a FEMA official, gave her directive both verbally and via a Microsoft Teams chat used by relief workers following the devastation caused by Hurricane Milton in October, the Daily Wire reported.

"Avoid homes advertising Trump," Washington wrote in a "best practices" memo to staff.

The order regarding Trump supporters was given second priority in a list of instructions advising workers to not "go anywhere alone," to practice de-escalation, to stay hydrated, and to "follow the rules." A FEMA spokesperson confirmed that orders to bypass the homes of Trump supporters were given and said that the agency was "deeply disturbed by this employee's actions."

FEMA employees told the Daily Wire that a minimum of 20 homes displaying Trump signs were passed over during October and November.

"Trump sign no entry per leadership," read messages by FEMA workers in the agency's tracking system when homes were skipped over. Because their homes were skipped, those residents were denied the opportunity to take advantage of federal disaster relief assistance.

In a statement Saturday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said, "More than 22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA's core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors. Recently, one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump.

"This is a clear violation of FEMA's core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible. 

"I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct. We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously," the statement continued.

"This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again."

Employees who spoke to the Daily Wire said it was "unbelievable" that a federal employee would specifically order discrimination.

"I volunteered to help disaster victims, not discriminate against them," the employee said. "It didn't matter if people were Black, white, Hispanic, for Trump, for [Kamala] Harris. Everyone deserves the same amount of help."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered an investigation into the reports and posted that he has directed the state's Division of Emergency Management to probe "the federal government's targeted discrimination of Floridians who support Donald Trump."

"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 wrote. "New leadership is on the way in DC, and I'm optimistic that these partisan bureaucrats will be fired."

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