In The News

Today, America First Legal (AFL) opened an investigation into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials who apparently engaged in a pattern and practice of withholding federal Hurricanes Helene and Milton disaster relief from homeowners with Trump signs. The government may not constitutionally deprive a citizen of his or her First Amendment rights in exchange for disaster relief. Accordingly, AFL has also formally requested that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General immediately investigate FEMA’s reported abuse. 

There is substantial evidence of government abuse in this case.

• On November 8, 2024, the Daily Wire reported that a FEMA official instructed government employees to “avoid homes advertising Trump” as they canvassed communities in southeastern parts of the U.S. that were severely affected by the recent hurricanes. FEMA whistleblowers alleged that “at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags… were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance.” 
• On November 9, 2024, FEMA issued an official apology and terminated Marn’i D. Washington, the supervisor who decreed the political discrimination against Trump supporters. However, Ms. Washington claimed she acted on guidance from her superiors in FEMA to avoid homes with Trump signs. Other FEMA officials corroborated Ms. Washington’s claims, saying that “the agency’s practice of skipping Trump-supporting houses—or avoiding ‘white or conservative-dominated’ disaster zones altogether—is an open secret at the agency that has been going on for years.”
• Whistleblowers reported additional evidence of abuse to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, alleging that a FEMA contractor visited the home of an elderly disabled veteran’s family and “recommended that the family remove Trump campaign materials and signs from their house and yard, stating that his FEMA supervisors view Trump supporters as domestic terrorists.”
• House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Sam Graves and House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Chairman Scott Perry revealed reports of “FEMA employees skipping any home that displayed a ‘Make America Great Again,’ ‘Drain the Swamp,’ ‘Don’t Tread on Me,’ or Trump campaign sign” in North Carolina. Apparently, “If the FEMA field team encountered three or more of these signs, the field team could abandon the entire neighborhood without notifying hurricane victims of assistance available to them.”

Accordingly, multiple members of Congress have called for a full investigation into FEMA over its guidance regarding hurricane relief.

FEMA’s conduct is just one more example of bureaucrats attacking American citizens’ right to free speech. But no matter the pretext, whether it is “misinformation, “disinformation,” or “malinformation” for social media or abusively denying hurricane relief to homeowners to punish them for displaying Trump signs, AFL will fight the Deep State to uncover the truth and protect our rights.

Statement from Will Scolinos, America First Legal Counsel:

“For four years, the Deep State has waged war on Americans’ freedom of speech. This latest example may be one of the most cruel, abusive, and egregious yet—denying homeowners desperately needed hurricane relief assistance because of who they supported politically. AFL will work tirelessly for accountability and to safeguard Americans’ constitutional rights,” said Will Scolinos.

Read the FOIA request here.

Read the OIG letter here.