Judge Rules Trump Administration’s FEMA Staffing Cut Violated Law

A California judge has ruled the Trump administration broke the law when it ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cut its workforce from 23,000 to 11,500 by the end of the 2026 fiscal year.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled Sept. 11 in favor of unions that sued over the planned staffing cuts.

After the federal government’s failures during Hurricane Katrina, Congress passed a law giving FEMA control over all of its functions, including its personnel and administrative authority, according to the judge’s ruling. Although FEMA falls under the Department of Homeland Security, the law also expressly prohibited the Homeland Security secretary from substantially reducing FEMA’s authority, responsibilities, functions, or ability to carry out its emergency-management missions.

“The statutory language is clear,” Illston wrote.

A draft report that was leaked in December 2025 showed a recommendation to create a new “FEMA 2.0” by cutting FEMA’s staffing roughly in half and pushing more of FEMA’s functions out to states and local governments, the court document states.

The court criticized the December 2025 staffing plan that projected a revamped FEMA with 11,383 employees. Illston wrote that the figure was “arbitrary and capricious” and “appears as if pulled from thin air.”

The judge also questioned the process of coming up with the reduction to 11,383 employees by Karen Evans, the acting FEMA administrator at that time.

“In other words, rather than reflecting reasoned decision making to reach the 11,383 annual staffing plan figure submitted to DHS, the record indicates that Evans submitted the 11,383 figure first and then worked backwards to figure out how to support it,” she wrote.

Homeland Security and FEMA didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

The judge did not immediately determine the remedy. The unions have sought reinstatement and back pay for separated employees and an injunction barring implementation of the staffing plan.

Illston ordered the parties to negotiate a solution. If they cannot agree, they must submit a joint statement identifying the remaining disputes by Oct. 9.

In January, President Donald Trump issued an order to create a council to review FEMA, citing concerns over political bias within the agency.

The order states that FEMA’s handling of Hurricane Helene and other recent disasters has prompted the need to “drastically improve” the agency’s “efficacy, priorities, and competence,” and evaluate whether the agency’s bureaucracy hinders its ability to respond effectively.

In addition, the order states there were “serious concerns of political bias” within FEMA, and that resources had been used to support missions beyond the agency’s scope, including activities that support illegal aliens.

Trump has been critical of FEMA’s response in North Carolina after flooding from to Hurricane Helene.

“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

He said at the time that FEMA under the Biden administration had been slow and ineffective, adding that it would be more effective to have individual states handle storms.

Aldgra Fredly contributed to this report.