A California judge has ruled the Trump administration broke the law when it ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cut its workforce from 23,000 to 11,500 by the end of the 2026 fiscal year.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Sept. 11 in favor of unions that sued over the planned staffing cuts.
After the federal government’s failures during Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law giving FEMA control over all of its functions, including its personnel and administrative authority, according to the judge’s ruling. Although FEMA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, the law also expressly prohibited the Homeland Security secretary from substantially reducing FEMA’s authority, responsibilities, functions, or ability to carry out its emergency-management missions. …