A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it ordered that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s work force be cut in half.
In her ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California wrote that the Department of Homeland Security undercut the agency’s authority with an “arbitrary and capricious” plan to reduce FEMA’s work force by more than 11,000 agency employees by the end of September. Included in that number were thousands of temporary, full-time federal employees who help communities prepare for and recover from disasters around the country.
“Frankly, the FEMA staffing plan number appears as if pulled from thin air,” Judge Illston wrote.
The administration did not ultimately carry out the full 50 percent reduction, though FEMA’s work force had already shrunk significantly.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union, had argued in a lawsuit that the department’s proposed cuts would deeply affect the agency’s ability to respond to emergencies.
The Homeland Security Department and the labor union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for FEMA said on Saturday night that the agency was “ensuring work force stability and a strong, deployable force for upcoming national events and potential disasters.”
Those temporary employees, known as Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery, or CORE, employees, make up about 40 percent of FEMA’s staff. Their assignments typically last for two or four years and have historically often been renewed, allowing FEMA to adjust its work force as disasters and recovery needs change. They became a target under Kristi Noem, the former secretary of homeland security who was ousted by President Trump in March.
A FEMA spokesman told The New York Times in January that the number of CORE employees was “designed to fluctuate based on disaster activity, operational need, and available funding.”
The Trump administration has drastically shrunk the work force across the federal government. Mr. Trump himself has said FEMA should “go away.” He has called for the responsibility for disaster response to shift to the states.
A federal watchdog report found the sharp reductions in staff had limited the agency’s ability to respond to hurricanes and other natural disasters, especially those that occur at the same time. Cameron Hamilton, Mr. Trump’s FEMA administrator, acknowledged in June that the reductions posed “challenges” to the country’s disaster readiness.
The judge ordered the parties to meet and try to reach an agreement on “the scope of relief” by Oct. 9. If they cannot come to an agreement by then, Judge Illston wrote, the court will issue a ruling on the relief.
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