WASHINGTON – A federal judge has found that the Trump administration’s proposal to cut the workforce at the nation’s disaster-response agency by 50% was unlawful.
The ruling, issued late Friday, handed a win to labor groups that challenged the plan in court. They argued that the Department of Homeland Security’s actions violated congressional safeguards intended to preserve the independence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The dispute over FEMA staffing was one part of a broader lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and other unions challenging the Trump administration’s push to shrink the federal workforce.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston wrote that senior Homeland Security officials directed FEMA leaders late last year to prepare a plan for a 50% personnel reduction, despite objections from the agency’s own supervisors.
“Frankly, the FEMA staffing plan number appears as if pulled from thin air,” Illston wrote.
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor FEMA immediately responded to requests for comment.
Illston said the government clearly violated rules adopted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Those provisions place staffing decisions with FEMA rather than the Department of Homeland Security and bar DHS from “substantially” reducing FEMA’s “functions.”
The judge did not impose a specific remedy, instead instructing both sides to meet and determine appropriate relief.
While FEMA has seen employees terminated, the proposed 50% staffing reduction was never ultimately implemented. Following leadership changes in recent months at FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security, the agency has rehired some employees who had been dismissed.
FEMA was among the federal agencies targeted for workforce reductions under the Trump administration’s broader effort to reduce the size of government. The agency has faced mass departures, disruptions to grant programs and delays in disaster assistance.
In May, a Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council submitted a final report recommending sweeping changes to how the agency supports states, tribes and territories in disaster.
The final version backed away from the recommendation to cut the FEMA workforce by 50%, which was included in a December 2025 draft reviewed by The Associated Press.
The council instead recommended the agency conduct a “strategic review” to determine “appropriate staffing levels.”
In an August report, the Government Accountability Office said it found the departures of thousands of staff in 2025 resulted in a “loss of institutional knowledge and experienced personnel” and “exacerbated longstanding workforce challenges.”
More than 4,300 employees, or about 17% of FEMA’s workforce, separated from the agency in the 2025 budget year, with over 1,500 through voluntary reductions. The agency also made about 2,900 new hires.
The GAO recently recommended to Congress that it “consider requiring” FEMA to base “significant workforce decisions” on a more strategic planning process.
Without it, the GAO found, “FEMA cannot be assured that the agency is positioned to effectively meet its mission needs.”
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