FEMA Systemically Withheld Disaster Aid to Conservative Victims under Biden, DHS Probe Finds

Besides its lengthy history of incompetence, the federal agency created by Jimmy Carter to provide the nation with disaster relief singled out conservative victims and withheld aid to survivors who displayed signs and flags the agency’s liberal workforce disagreed with, including those supporting President Trump. The “textbook political discrimination against Americans in crisis” was uncovered by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigation that found throughout the Biden administration the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—charged with helping people before, during and after disasters—systemically refused to visit the houses of politically conservative victims. “For years, FEMA employees under the Biden Administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem confirms. “They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors’ political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior.”

The investigation was conducted by the DHS Privacy Office and found that between 2021 and 2024 FEMA employees recorded the political beliefs of affected citizens in agency databases, and that the information was used to bypass or postpone aid to disaster survivors. Investigators determined that the conduct violates the Privacy Act of 1974 and other DHS data-handling rules intended to protect the First Amendments rights of all Americans. Here are some examples included in the report which was made public last week. An October field note from Florida says, “Trump sign, no contact per leadership.” A September 2021 note in Pennsylvania reads, “…a lot of explicit political flags, posters, etc. ‘F— Joe Biden’ ‘MAGA 2024’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘Trump 2024’ We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.” A Louisiana note from 2021 warns, “Homeowner had sign stated…this is trump country.” The prejudice first came to light after Hurricane Milton struck Florida’s Gulf Coast in October 2024, and a whistleblower revealed that FEMA employees were directed to bypass houses displaying political signs supporting then presidential candidate Trump. Biden’s FEMA administrator, Deanne Criswell, denied it was a systemic problem and even testified under oath before Congress that it was an isolated incident.

The recent DHS probe contradicts Criswell’s assessment, finding that the abuses were widespread and occurred in the aftermath of multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021. The report includes screenshots of a FEMA tool used to collect information that is supposed to be used to provide disaster survivor assistance. “The information collected included obviously protected information about individuals’ freedom of expression, such as campaign signs showing support for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump or political positions, such as supporting gun ownership, or indicating that an individual expressed support or disagreed with a political leader,” DHS investigators found. The report also says that internal FEMA communications show several supervisors and crew leaders told field teams to avoid or delay visits to homes displaying Trump campaign flags or other conservative symbols. Data taken from the agency’s disaster-relief software confirm skipped home visits, missing aid notifications as well as field notes citing political signs as reasons for not contacting victims. A U.S. map features instances in eight states between 2021 and 2024.

The scathing report is simply the latest of many chronicling the lapses at FEMA, which is well known for its inefficiency in responding to disasters. The agency was merged into DHS after the 2001 terrorist attacks and has been failing the American people since Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana gulf coast two decades ago, killing more than 1,800 Americans and resulting in billions of dollars in property damage. “FEMA’s response was slow, ineffective, and bureaucratic,” DHS writes in an August announcement vowing to get the agency back on track. To ensure that the political discrimination under Biden does not happen again Noem has referred the probe’s findings to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for further investigation and potential prosecution and has canceled the door-to-door survey practice used to discriminate against Americans. “The prohibited collection of constitutionally protected information underscores a pattern of weaponizing federal power against Americans and abusing the trust placed in government institutions,” the DHS concludes in its report.