Rep. Greg Stanton says Trump administration illegally used FEMA to help ICE

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is supposed to help people during disasters like floods and fires. But a new report finds the Trump administration diverted FEMA staff at key times to do something very different — help ICE in immigration enforcement.

The report was prepared by House Democrats led by Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton and he spoke to The Show in studios to talk more.

Full conversation

LAUREN GILGER: Good morning, Congressman, thanks for coming in.

GREG STANTON: Good morning.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so how many FEMA employees are we talking about here that were diverted to work for DHS, or the Department of Homeland Security, on essentially immigration enforcement?

GREG STANTON: It is hundreds of FEMA employees, and that is on top of the fact that since Trump has gotten back into office, 5,000 FEMA employees have left the agency or been fired. So almost 30% of the workforce is gone. And then on top of that, hundreds are being diverted for non-FEMA actions.

LAUREN GILGER: And this was something that came to your attention via whistleblowers, right?

GREG STANTON: Yeah, thank God there are courageous whistleblowers inside of FEMA, people who are passionate about helping people on their worst day. People that are trained and ready to help people when there is a forest fire, or a hurricane or a flood. They believe so passionately in emergency management, and they’re pretty angry about the fact that ICE is coming in and taking those employees and utilizing those employees, the skills that they have to help emergency management, like setting up emergency centers within 24 hours. That’s a really important skill to have.

They’re taking those employees, and instead of using them for emergency management, they’re using them to help plan and execute ICE raids around the country and to stand up some of these detention centers, which is both wrong and illegal.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. So it sounds like they were playing a pretty key role in this kind of mass deportation campaign that we’ve seen playing out around the country. Could they have done this without these, you know, very many FEMA employees?

GREG STANTON: I think they could have done it, but they wouldn’t have done it nearly as well, quote-unquote, as they did. But, you know, you and I have talked offline, there is a law specifically banning this from happening. It’s called the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Act, because after Katrina, we learned that when employees aren’t ready to go at a moment’s notice, that delays response, and that can cost lives.

So the law specifically says that these key FEMA employees are there in case of emergency, of natural disaster. They are not to be moved for other purposes, despite how well-trained they are. And I think a big part of the problem is that, you know, FEMA is lost in this massive bureaucracy inside of the Department of Homeland Security. So Kristi Noem, the former secretary, just didn’t think twice about moving employees around because ICE raids were her highest priority, unfortunately.

But under the law, those employees should be prepared for an emergency at a moment’s notice, not used for another purpose. So I believe that this has had a tremendous negative impact. There was a terrible flood in Texas in July of 2025. FEMA’s response was horrific and totally unacceptable. In light of that, they could have been on the ground much sooner, and the fact that they were taking some of their most talented employees and using them for a non-FEMA purpose is immoral, it’s wrong, and it’s illegal.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. You mentioned that law that came post-Katrina, the disaster in New Orleans. I mean, the idea, right, is to try to keep emergency management and these sort of essential functions out of politics. Do you feel like this is doing the opposite?

GREG STANTON: It is doing the exact opposite. But it’s also as a fact that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem thought that she had the authority just to move employees around, didn’t really care about emergency management. Obviously, her main focus, and unfortunately the department’s main focus continues to be, this mass deportation effort and these ICE raids. The American people don’t believe in that, don’t support that, but that is still the high priority for this department.

And so to just move people around without regard to what risk that would be to the American people. Look, this agency should be a standalone agency. We need to get back the employee numbers so that it can really fully respond to emergencies. If there were multiple natural disasters at the same time, we are not prepared right now in America for a significant natural disaster. I pray that we don’t have one, but if we do, or we have more than one in particular, we would not be in a position to adequately respond. That’s unacceptable to the American people.

The whole point of FEMA is Americans saying, "We want to support our fellow Americans." We don’t care if you’re in a red state or a blue state, but we need those employees highly trained, and we need them ready to go at a moment’s notice. And that unfortunately has been undermined by Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration.

LAUREN GILGER: So you’re calling for FEMA to essentially be made an independent agency. Do you think it also needs to be bulked up in light of — I mean, we’re seeing many more natural disasters now in light of climate change.

GREG STANTON: Bulk up, I mean, it just needs to get back to where it was. I mean, they have, as you know, when the Trump administration came in, they suggested that they wanted to completely eliminate FEMA and have states go it alone when they have a natural disaster. That’s so un-American.

Like, we want to support our fellow Americans when there’s a natural disaster. We want to help them, and the most efficient way is to have the federal government be in charge of preparing for and responding to natural disasters. We need to get the employee numbers up to the levels that it was before Trump came back into office so that we are fully ready to respond to natural disasters. It could affect us here in Arizona. We know that forest fires can ravage communities, loss of life, loss of property, etc.

And the Department of Homeland Security had a policy when Kristi Noem was there that any contract above $100,000 had to be personally signed off by her. That had disastrous results. After the Texas floods, people were calling in for help. They lost their homes, they had lost other property, they may have missing family members. They were calling the emergency call center asking for support. Because Kristi Noem had not authorized emergency call center support, those phone calls went unanswered in people’s worst day. We owe our fellow Americans so much more.

So we need to get the department fully funded, get the employee count up to where it is, those highly trained employees should be brought back to the department. FEMA needs to be reimbursed for the time of those employees because that goes into the disaster fund that helps us prepare for natural disasters. And FEMA should be an independent agency outside of the purview of the Department of Homeland Security with an administrator reporting directly to the president. Those are the reforms needed to support our fellow Americans in their time of need.

LAUREN GILGER: Last minute here for you before I let you go, congressman. I want to ask you about something different, about the potential details coming down on the Colorado River deal and how states are going to share pretty significant cuts to that. It’s looking like Arizona is going to take the brunt of those cuts in some ways. You’ve called this a failure of leadership from the federal government. How do you think it could impact Arizonans?

GREG STANTON: It’s going to impact us in very negative ways. Look, the action, the direct order about what needs to happen is going to come down any day now, but we know what the outline is. Arizona has already offered up additional cuts. The lower basin has come up with a short-term plan. It appears that the Department of Interior is going to accept that plan. That’s responsible leadership.

I think our Governor Katie Hobbs has done a really good job on this most critical issue for the future of our state, battling, advocating for Arizona. But we keep offering more cuts, the upper basin ain’t.

And it is up to this administration to force both sides to a fair compromise, shared sacrifice. Just like the original agreement from 100 years ago, half the water for the Upper Basin, half the water for Lower Basin, any future cuts should be also shared equally. But right now it’s only Arizona and the Lower Basin showing real leadership, offering up additional cuts to get us through the short-term period, but long-term, the Upper Basin needs to share equally in the pain, otherwise, it could be a great disaster for our state.

LAUREN GILGER: All right, well, we’ll have to leave it there. Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton joining us. Thank you very much for coming in, congressman, appreciate it.

GREG STANTON: Thanks for having me.

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