FEMA crews bypassed Florida homes with Trump signs, violating Hatch Act

A federal watchdog’s investigation revealed that FEMA personnel deliberately ignored eleven hurricane-impacted residences in Lake Placid, Florida, after seeing Trump 2024 campaign signs, thereby violating agency policy and the Hatch Act. The DHS Office of Inspector General blamed insufficient ethics and Hatch Act training, lack of procedural requirements to explain skipped homes, and absent quality-control reviews. Supervisor Marn’i Washington admitted to instructing her team to avoid providing disaster-relief services to supporters of the Republican candidate, a practice she said was not isolated.

Additionally, the report faulted former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for failing to fund a contractor that could have supplied data on similar refusals during other storms, as the contract expired in September 2025. Overall, FEMA crews surveyed 744,288 homes after Hurricanes Helene and Milton but failed to contact 555,374 of them.