‘FEMA Should Be Terminated!’ Trump Says

President Donald Trump called for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.  

“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry,” Trump wrote. “It is now under review and investigation. The Biden-run FEMA has been a disaster. FEMA should be terminated! It has been slow and totally ineffective. Individual states should handle storms, etc., as they come. Big savings, far more efficient!!!”

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Trump’s statement comes as the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday morning it’s firing four employees responsible for making payments to house illegal aliens in luxury hotels in New York City.  

“Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” according to a statement from a DHS spokesperson.  

The four employees being fired include FEMA’s chief financial officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist,” according to the DHS spokesperson. 

The terminations of the FEMA employees come one day after Elon Musk wrote on X that the Department of Government Efficiency discovered “FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.”  

Under the leadership of Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, “DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people,” the DHS spokesperson said.  

During a visit Saturday to western North Carolina to review the progress of the recovery efforts and the damage that still remains from last fall’s Hurricane Helene, Noem said major changes might be coming to FEMA.   

The Trump administration may eliminate “a lot of what FEMA is at the federal level and giving the authority, the dollars, and the money to the states so that they can deploy that,” Noem said. 

On Jan. 24, Trump signed an executive order establishing the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council to review FEMA’s effectiveness in responding to natural disasters and to recommend needed changes to the agency.   

“This task force will be looking at all those opportunities to make sure that those that are closest to these communities have the opportunity to make the decisions in how they respond,” according to Noem.   

FEMA, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, received intense criticism for its response to Hurricane Helene, including for at least one report that FEMA workers had been directed by a supervisor to avoid homes with political signs supporting Trump.   

A pair of North Carolina GOP members of Congress praised the decision to fire the four FEMA employees.  

“Firing these rogue operators is a great first step,” Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., wrote on X. “Bureaucrats have no business circumventing the President and the will of the American people.” 

“Firing four employees is just the start,” Rep. Tim Moore, R-N.C., said. “The corruption runs deep, and this is only a glimpse of the rot inside our federal government. Real reforms are coming to clean house and put Americans FIRST, where they belong.” 

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