Trump administration restricts new FEMA disaster deployments during DHS shutdown

By Gabe Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — The Trump administration has ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to suspend the deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster-torn areas around the US while the Department of Homeland Security is shut down, according to sources and internal messages obtained by CNN.

The new edict comes even though most deployments are paid for through a Disaster Relief Fund that isn’t affected by the shutdown.

One internal message to FEMA leaders on Tuesday said DHS, which oversees the agency, has “directed FEMA to stop all travel.” The order took effect Wednesday.

Any travel to areas still recovering from severe storms will now require sign-off from leaders at DHS, which oversees FEMA.

More than 300 FEMA disaster responders were preparing for upcoming assignments but told to stand down, including some who are currently at a training facility, according to the agency messages.

FEMA staffers already working on major recovery efforts — like the one that’s still happening in southern states hit by Hurricane Helene two years ago — will stay in the field and can’t return home unless their assignment is ending, according to the messages. For now, no new personnel can join or relieve them without explicit approval from DHS.

“If we can’t get people to Florida or North Carolina to help validate damages from Helene, we can’t approve funding for those projects,” one FEMA official, who asked not to be identified, told CNN. “If we can’t staff a Disaster Recovery Center in Washington State or Alaska, how can people get help with their assistance applications?”

DHS issued a statement attributed to a FEMA spokesperson saying the restrictions on travel are “not a choice but are necessary to comply with federal law.” The statement says, “FEMA travel related to active disasters is not cancelled.”

“While some non-essential activities will be paused or scaled back, FEMA remains committed to supporting communities and responding to incidents like Hurricane Helene,” the statement says.

Weeks before the shutdown, amid efforts to overhaul FEMA and cut costs, DHS leaders had been discussing travel restrictions, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Disaster recovery work and travel are typically funded through FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is a separate pool of money appropriated by Congress and not affected by the current lapse in DHS funding, multiple sources said. As of December, the DRF had roughly $7 billion available.

“So it’s not because the money isn’t there,” a FEMA source told CNN.

Michael Coen, former FEMA chief of staff under the Obama and Biden administrations, was critical of the move, telling CNN, “They are desperate to show consequences of the shutdown, but the DRF is not affected by the lapse in appropriation. Year two and it’s still amateur hour at DHS as illustrated by this micromanagement and reckless disregard for communities recovering from FEMA supported disasters.”

It remains unclear how much the travel freeze could disrupt disaster recovery efforts across the country.

One senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, doubted the order would prevent FEMA from responding to a sudden, catastrophic disaster because DHS has the flexibility to reauthorize these deployments.

“Ultimately it’s not a huge blow yet, but just another measure that makes it harder for survivors to get the help they need,” another high-ranking FEMA official told CNN. “It’s yet another way they continue to bleed us out and kill the mission.”

The travel restrictions are similar to another strict policy put in place by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last year, which requires her personal approval for any spending over $100,000. That rule has led to a huge backlog of FEMA disaster and emergency preparedness funding that’s still awaiting her approval, causing widespread frustration among members of Congress and state officials.

FEMA and the sewage spill

The travel freeze comes after President Donald Trump pledged that FEMA would play a “key role” in a federal response to the massive sewage spill in the Potomac River, while criticizing Maryland Democrats, particularly Gov. Wes Moore.

Following the president’s remarks, Noem tweeted that “Democrats in Congress have shut down @FEMA funding — leaving our hard working employees to work without pay — yet FEMA is now stepping in to coordinate cleanup of one of the largest raw sewage spills in U.S. history.”

So far, however, FEMA has deployed few, if any, resources to assist with the sewage spill, according to three agency officials. FEMA’s daily briefing on Wednesday indicated it was still “monitoring” the situation.

Trump seemed to clarify his comments on Truth Social Tuesday, urging local officials in Maryland, Virginia, and DC to “get to work, IMMEDIATELY,” adding “if they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed.”

Moore on Wednesday accused Trump of lying and putting people’s health at risk, saying, “This sewage pipe that he is talking about is on federal land and over these past four weeks the Trump-Vance administration has failed to act.”

Moore said blaming Maryland is “asinine. It is disingenuous, absurd, and politically motivated.”

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