Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has accused the Biden administration of deliberately refusing to provide help to Donald Trump supporters who fell victim to natural disasters.
Noem’s serious allegations come as she faces increasing bipartisan criticism that her own Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rules are slowing down aid.
As pressure mounts against Noem, an extraordinary statement released on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has alleged that, from 2021 to 2024, FEMA employees steered clear of some disaster victims due to their political affiliations and improperly logged their political views.
Noem said staff had “deliberately avoided houses” showing support for Trump and the Second Amendment and “illegally collected” political data.
“The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs—this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion,” she said.
Vowing DHS would “not let this stand,” Noem pledged to refer the matter to the Justice Department “for further investigation and potential prosecution.”
The announcement revives a storm that erupted after Hurricane Milton in 2024, when a whistleblower claimed some FEMA teams were told to skip houses with pro-Trump signs.
GOP investigators pressed the agency for answers that autumn, and Florida’s attorney general filed a lawsuit the next month, citing whistleblower accounts in Lake Placid.
The allegations form part of an official Trump administration probe, in which investigators have concluded that FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by maintaining prohibited information about survivors’ political beliefs and using it to make unfair decisions, including bypassing certain homes.
DHS describes such behavior as “widespread and systematic, and occurred during multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021.”
Biden’s FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell previously told Congress under oath that the 2024 episode was isolated—a claim now contradicted by the DHS probe.
Tuesday’s DHS statement said Noem had referred the matter not only to the DOJ but to the department’s inspector general, and canceled the canvassing practice “used to discriminate.”
Noem also ordered stricter training, more precise definitions of legitimate safety and hostility risks, and robust audits.
The move comes amid mounting bipartisan outrage over her own management of FEMA this year. Republicans on Capitol Hill have accused the secretary of paralyzing aid by demanding her personal sign-off on every DHS contract over $100,000.
In a report last week, NOTUS quoted one GOP lawmaker saying Noem should show “more f---ing respect” for Congress, while detailing Sen. Ted Budd placing a blanket hold on DHS nominees over stalled Hurricane Helene funds for North Carolina.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said a West Virginia grant had been “slow-walked.”
The secretary’s office has defended the $100,000 approval rule as an anti-waste measure, claiming multibillion-dollar savings, but the practical effects have drawn rebukes far beyond Congress.
There has been widespread reporting throughout late summer and fall, pointing to delayed FEMA programs, leadership churn, and policy shifts that critics say erect new barriers for survivors, such as an August rule requiring an email address to apply for help.
This month, DHS was taken to task over its funding decisions by a federal judge. On Oct. 14, a Rhode Island judge found the Trump administration had flouted a court order by trying to tie FEMA preparedness grants to immigration-enforcement conditions.
Rhode Island District Court Judge William Smith, who was appointed by George W. Bush, warned that DHS was effectively “bullying” states by threatening to withhold money, moves the court said violated constitutional and administrative law.
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and Deanne Criswell for comment.
