SCORCHED EARTH

Judge Wrecks Trump’s Excuse to Hold Back Wildfire Support

The Trump administration has attempted to tie disaster relief to its anti-DEI crusade.

A federal judge torched the Trump administration’s attempt to tie disaster relief in wildfire-ravaged Oregon to its crusade against diversity programs and “gender ideology.”

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane laid out Thursday why he granted the city of Salem a preliminary injunction on Aug. 13, blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from conditioning disaster grants on compliance with President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI agenda.

Salem filed a federal lawsuit on July 15 against DHS and FEMA over the Trump administration’s push to withhold disaster grants from cities that don’t comply with its rejection of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

“Yet, as wildfires, severe storms, and floods routinely ravage through the State of Oregon, disaster relief has become a tool to advance unrelated executive policy,” McShane wrote in his order.

“Although it is hard to imagine the connection between the use of preferred pronouns and the fires currently burning through central Oregon,” the judge said.

The order comes as Oregon battles a devastating wildfire season, with more than 33,000 residents under evacuation orders as of late July, according to Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, who said 86 active fires had burned more than one million acres statewide.

At the center of the legal fight is $1,093,800 Salem needs to repair a flood-damaged road to its West Salem Pump Station following storms in December 2025.

The federal government has demanded that Salem agree to conditions based on Trump executive orders cracking down on DEI initiatives before the city gets its hands on the disaster funds.

McShane said the administration had effectively handed Salem a “Hobson’s choice,” or no real choice at all, by demanding the city accept conditions the court found were likely unconstitutional or risk forfeiting millions of dollars in disaster funding appropriated by Congress.

McShane found “simply no nexus” between the challenged conditions and the disaster grant programs, and said the Trump administration’s policy likely violated the Constitution’s spending rules.

The judge also warned that the administration’s ability to terminate funding under the conditions opened the door to political punishment.

“A cynical reading of the condition would suggest that the administration could retaliate against a political entity (to the detriment of those in need of relief) while protected by the vagaries of convenience, changing priorities, and national interest,” he wrote.

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DHS has defended the Trump administration’s policies.

“While FEMA does not comment on pending litigation, this lawsuit is another attempt to obstruct President Trump’s agenda and the will of the American people,” a DHS spokesperson told news outlets last month.

The battle is part of Trump’s wider effort to dismantle DEI programs following his return to the White House in January 2025. On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order targeting federal DEI programs, and federal employees working on them were ordered to be placed on leave the following day.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

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Isabel van BrugenFreelance Writer

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