On February 11, four Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees, including the chief financial officer, Mary Comans, were terminated and accused by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of disobeying leadership. On this same day, $80 million in federal grant money to New York City was clawed back by the DHS.
The four employees were specifically accused of funneling money into non-governmental services (NGOs) that benefited migrants.
A Homeland Security spokesperson maintained that while payments to state and local government funding were permitted, the money shouldn’t be going to non-governmental organizations providing services to migrants and argued the fired officials deceived higher ups. The program in question is explicitly intended to assist those providing shelter and aid to migrants.
CNN
However, the FEMA employees rebutted that the “guidance wasn’t clear and that the lump sum went directly to the New York City government.” In reality, the terminations of the four employees likely had little to do with the ability to follow orders. Comans, described as highly qualified and effective, was seen as a “scapegoat” by other FEMA staff, as Trump and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) work to dismantle FEMA.
If the firings were over directives, the fault should rest with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. On January 28, she directed agencies to cease all grants to NGOs related to immigration. The order applied to the Shelter and Services Program, which existed for years and in partnership with US Customs and Border Protection. Confusingly, the program did receive $650 million from Congress. The acting DHS General Counsel Joseph Mazzara insisted that money for state and local governments “should keep flowing.” As the program gave grant money to state and local governments, FEMA employees were mislead into believing that it would be okay to sustain the Shelter and Services Program.
FEMA officials asked for clarification several times, apparently without an answer. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin blamed the FEMA officials, suggesting that they refused to disclose that the funds would go to an NGO. She stated this without evidence, and despite the fact that the FEMA employees went to great lengths to avoid giving grant money to NGOs in accordance with the DHS order. McLaughlin also delved into conspiracy theories, accusing the FEMA employees of being “deep-state activists.”
The episode has had a chilling effect on FEMA staff.
“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that [Trump] wants us to not process grant payments, and the way to do it is to terrify us all into thinking that we will get fired if we do our basic job functions,” one FEMA employee told CNN. “We’re all just kind of frozen.”
CNN
Clearly, the orders were intentionally indecipherable. Doing so enabled Noem to fire the FEMA officials with an apparent justification. This is an early episode both of Noem’s incompetence and eagerness to satisfy Trump’s desire to destroy FEMA and take vengeance on career officials.
