A federal judge determined Friday that the Trump administration broke the law when it attempted to cut the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) workforce, a ruling which coincided with America’s hurricane season.
In her order, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “unlawfully usurped the authority” of FEMA “to make its own personnel decisions.”
Illston, appointed under former President Clinton, found that DHS violated a federal law established in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina that said the department “may not substantially or significantly reduce . . . the authorities, responsibilities, or functions of” FEMA.
