Tipsheet

How FEMA Has Turned Into a DEI Disaster

Mia Cathell
Mia Cathell  |  October 09, 2024 2:15 PM

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has devolved into a DEI disaster.

Following President Joe Biden's Day One executive order on "Advancing Racial Equity" across the federal government, FEMA underwent an ideological overhaul. In accordance, FEMA implemented operational changes that favor certain demographics based on race, sexuality, and gender identity.

FEMA defines these "marginalized" groups that ought to receive priority treatment as "People of color," "Tribal Nations," "The LGBTQ+ community," "Migrant laborers," and "Those with limited English proficiency," according to a 144-page guide on "Achieving Equitable Recovery" that the agency issued in November 2023.

Now, in the wake of Hurricane Helene and as Hurricane Milton makes landfall, Americans are suffering on account of the agency's misplaced priorities, which emphasize "equity" and "climate resilience" over emergency preparedness.

FEMA does not list disaster readiness among the top two objectives of the emergency services bureau, whose stated goals on its official website focus first on "Instill[ing] equity as a foundation of emergency management" and "Lead[ing] whole of community in climate resilience" second. "Promote and sustain a ready FEMA and prepared nation" ranks last on the agency's list of primary concerns. This far-left administrative agenda is outlined extensively in the agency's 2022 - 2026 Strategic Plan on "Building the FEMA our Nation Needs and Deserves."

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"Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of disasters. Meanwhile, structural inequities in our society compound the impacts of disasters for historically underserved communities," says FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. 

According to Goal 2: Climate Resilience, FEMA says, "Climate change is the greatest challenge facing emergency managers today."

As for Goal 1: Equity, FEMA says specific groups, such as minorities, are "disproportionately" affected by disasters, which "worsen inequities already present in society."

"FEMA must direct its resources to eliminate disparities in these outcomes," the agency's leadership instructs.

"Equity must be baked into the front end of the federal declaration process, not an afterthought," adds Warren D. Miller, Equity Subcommittee vice chair for FEMA's National Advisory Council.

By delivering "equitable outcomes," the agency means selectively distributing FEMA assistance, a discriminatory practice it euphemistically calls "distributive justice." As an example of "Equity in Action," FEMA says it participates in a pilot of the White House's Justice40 Initiative, which requires at least 40 percent of federal benefits to be prioritized towards "disadvantaged" populations.

To also "ensur[e] that its employees increasingly reflect the diversity of the nation, FEMA actively recruits individuals from "underrepresented" communities by partnering with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium of Tribal Colleges and Universities to install DEI-oriented hiring pipelines into the field of emergency management.

"While this work starts with ensuring representation, it does not end there. FEMA must make space within its workplace to invite and elevate diverse voices..." the agency mandates.

As another hurricane is about to hit the southern United States, this is not the first time that FEMA has prioritized racial justice in times of crisis.

In the summer of 2023, FEMA held staff training on "white supremacy" while more than 1,000 Hawaiians were missing following the Maui wildfires, The Washington Free Beacon reported. The federal agency reportedly required that its employees attend one of three DEI modules, which included "Course 2: Foundations of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Disasters" and "Course 3: Cultural Competency in Disaster Management." In order to meet their "DEI training requirement," FEMA staff had to take at least one of the mandatory three-hour courses.

In an internal email obtained by The Free Beacon, FEMA officials indicated that the effort was "part of our ongoing commitment to instill Equity as a Foundation of Emergency Management."

One of the presentation slides said, "White supremacy is an ideology, a pattern of values and beliefs that are ingrained in nearly every system and institution in the U.S." Another section, titled "The Uncomfortable Truth," said the United States "was established and rooted in extreme, extraordinary violence." The lecture further claimed that the "established economic, justice, and social systems all require subjugation of certain groups." Participants were instructed to acknowledge that "systemic racism and oppression exist."

The island's wildfires left more than 100 people dead and damaged over 3,000 structures in Lahaina.

Also last year, FEMA co-hosted a roundtable on "incorporat[ing] LGBTQI+ considerations into disaster preparedness."

According to a recording of the March 2023 meeting, FEMA emergency management specialist Tyler Atkins, who uses "he/they" pronouns, said:

"LGBTQIA people and people who have been disadvantaged already are struggling. They already have their own things to deal with, so you add a disaster on top of that, it's just compounding on itself."

"I think that is maybe the why of why we're having these discussions is because it isn't being talked about—it isn't being socialized. We're not paying attention to this community," added Akins, a training manager in FEMA's Office of Resilience overseeing the agency's Resilient & Ready seminar series, a twice-monthly webinar that discusses "climate change" and "equity." As a FEMA instructor, Atkins helped create several FEMA staff training courses.

Maggie Jarry ("she/her"), an emergency coordinator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), chimed in to chastise the country's "culture" of emergency management.

Jarry noted that the industry is seeing a shift from utilitarian principles "where everything is designed for the greatest good for the greatest amount of people" to "disaster equity."

"We have to do more," Jarry said, urging the government to examine how policies have "disadvantaged" communities with "less assets" and "pre-existing vulnerabilities in accessing disaster-related recovery supports."

She then excused her cat meowing in the background of the conference call.

Later on, Jarry instructed the attendees, which included government staffers and non-profit leaders, to adopt a "diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination pledge" within their respective jurisdictions.

Reilly Hirst, director of education and training for FEMA's Pride employee resource group, spoke of intersectionality, specifically mentioning transgender-identifying illegal immigrants and their concerns about being "misgendered" at disaster relief centers.

"Being a migrant trans woman, there is an undocumented concern; there is also a concern of whether they would trust the people [and] places that are offering shelter, that are faith-based, because of the way they've been responded to in the past," Hirst said. "And if they are accepted, what would happen in terms of misgendering in terms of bedrooms and bathrooms."

Over the past four years, the Biden-Harris administration has steadily restructured FEMA, transforming it into an illegal alien resettlement agency.

Immediately in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas complained that FEMA is cash-strapped after it spent over a billion dollars on an illegal immigrant assistance program. Last week, Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA does not have enough funds to make it through hurricane season, which lasts through November.

Since late 2022, FEMA has splurged money on the housing, travel, and care of illegal immigrants released from federal custody and awaiting immigration court proceedings through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP). This fiscal year alone, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pledged $640.9 million in taxpayer dollars towards such "humanitarian" services assisting illegal aliens. A year before that, DHS doled out $363.8 million.

According to a congressional report, FEMA runs SSP in conjunction with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to help curb the overcrowding of short-term CBP holding facilities.

The program financially supports state and local governments dealing with the influx of illegal immigrants flooding border towns as well as cities in the interior like New York, a so-called "sanctuary" where the city's budgetary management office just received more than $38 million from the FEMA-administered program.

In August, DHS announced the allocation of another $380.8 million to go towards the upkeep of illegal immigrants living in communities consumed by the Biden-Harris border crisis. These SSP grants cover costs for their food, shelter, clothing, medical treatment, and transportation, among other expenses.