Judge Rules DHS Plan for 50% FEMA Staffing Cut Was Unlawful

A federal judge has ruled that a plan by the Trump administration to cut staffing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency by 50% was unlawful, handing a victory to labor groups that had challenged the proposal.

In an opinion issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston found that top Department of Homeland Security officials had directed FEMA leadership late last year to submit a staffing plan containing the 50% reduction, even though the agency's own supervisors raised objections.

"Frankly, the FEMA staffing plan number appears as if pulled from thin air," Illston wrote.

The judge said the government had clearly violated rules established after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which placed decisions about FEMA staffing levels squarely with the agency rather than with Homeland Security and barred the department from substantially reducing FEMA's functions.

The dispute formed part of a broader lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees and other labor organizations challenging the administration's efforts to shrink the federal workforce. The labor groups argued that the staffing plan breached congressional protections intended to preserve FEMA's independence.

Illston did not order a specific remedy, instead directing both sides to meet and agree on a course of relief. Homeland Security and FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

While FEMA has seen terminations, the full 50% staffing cut was never carried out. In recent months, following leadership changes at both FEMA and Homeland Security, the agency has rehired some employees who had been let go.

FEMA was among the agencies targeted for staff reductions under a broad administration effort to reduce the size of government. The agency has been buffeted by mass departures, disruptions to grant programs and delays in disaster aid.

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 disasters. The final version stepped back from a recommendation to cut the FEMA workforce by 50%, which had appeared in a December 2025 draft, and instead urged a "strategic review" to determine appropriate staffing levels.

An August report by the Government Accountability Office found that the departure of thousands of staff in 2025 resulted in a loss of institutional knowledge and experienced personnel and worsened longstanding workforce challenges. More than 4,300 employees, about 17% of FEMA's workforce, left the agency in the 2025 budget year, including over 1,500 through voluntary reductions, while the agency made about 2,900 new hires.

The GAO recommended that Congress consider requiring FEMA to base significant workforce decisions on a more strategic planning process, warning that without one the agency cannot be assured it is positioned to meet its mission needs.