Exclusive: FEMA Workers Improperly Collected Data About Politics of Disaster Victimshttps://www.racket.news/p/exclusive-fema-workers-improperlyLast November 8th, on the Saturday after Election Day, one of the more bizarre post-scripts to Donald Trump’s re-election emerged in the form of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) decision to sideline one official accused of telling FEMA workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while canvassing for victims of Hurricane Milton in Florida. The Daily Wire spoke to multiple FEMA officials who produced screenshots of entries like “Trump sign, no contact per leadership”:
The most painful confirmation, however, came from then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who testified after the election that the episode was an “isolated incident,” as well as “unacceptable” and “heartbreaking,” suggesting the problem was limited to one eventually-terminated Disaster Survivor Assistance crew leader named Marn’i Washington, adding: “I do not believe that this employee’s actions are indicative of any widespread cultural problems at FEMA.”
Washington didn’t take the CYA maneuver lying down. She made a series of aggressive media appearances, saying repeatedly “my orders come from my superior” from above when instructing subordinates to avoid homes that made some FEMA workers “uncomfortable” by featuring Trump paraphernalia:
...
A year later, the Privacy Office of the Department of Homeland Security is releasing a review of that episode, the broader issue of using disaster relief work to collect political intelligence on voters, and the potentially withholding of benefits from some with the wrong beliefs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new administration found more than just one “isolated incident,” describing violations of the Privacy Act of 1974, which with a few exceptions bars collection of information about First Amendment-protected speech, like political signage. ...
...
The DHS report doesn’t describe a huge number of instances, but does list examples of FEMA workers from various relief efforts taking down political information well before the incident that actually made the news. FEMA’s actions were “not limited to the Hurricane Milton disaster relief efforts in 2024,” and in fact, “FEMA impermissibly collected prohibited information at least dating back to the Hurricane Ida disaster in September 2021.”
Some examples cited: October, 2021: “Homeowner had sign stated… this is Trump country.” September, 2021: “A lot of political flags, posters, etc. ‘**** Joe Biden,’ ‘MAGA 2024,’ ‘Joe Biden Sucks’ ‘Trump 2024’ We do not recommend anyone visiting this location.” November 2024: ‘There was a political flyer so I didn’t leave a FEMA brochure.” Neither Criswell nor Washington responded to requests for comment.
It would be interesting to see if such @#$% was done in 2019 and 2020, and what view(s) FEMA workers recorded.
