Following the devastation last year of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, there were astonishing reports that some Federal Emergency Management Agency employees had deliberately avoided providing assistance to homes displaying flags or signs in support of President-elect Donald Trump.

Congressional Republicans were outraged and opened up an investigation into those allegations, and now the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has confirmed that his office has similarly launched a review of its own, according to The Hill.

Those probes are not necessarily intended to prove whether or not FEMA employees actually avoided pro-Trump households in disaster areas, as top FEMA officials have already confirmed such incidents occurred, but rather are focused on determining just how widespread the problem was.

Congress requested an investigation

On Dec. 3, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), joined by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), sent a letter to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari that raised concerns about partisan FEMA workers asked him to "immediately open an investigation into the multiple allegations of the deliberate avoidance of homes with Trump campaign or political signs during the agency’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton."

Disputing initial claims from FEMA that the avoidance was isolated to one area of Florida, the lawmakers wrote that a "former FEMA employee reported that FEMA employees avoided homes with Trump campaign signs in multiple states that were impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton."

"In North Carolina, the Committee is aware of reports of FEMA employees skipping any home that displayed a 'Make America Great Again,' 'Drain the Swamp,' 'Don’t Tread on Me,' or Trump campaign sign," they continued. "FEMA leadership has given no indication of whether it will perform additional outreach to homes in North Carolina that were not canvassed as a result of this policy."

The congressmen also raised "serious concerns" about allegations of retaliation toward whistleblowers and the deletion of relevant records and urged the IG to review those allegations as well, and added, "FEMA must work to restore the trust of the American people, and your office plays a crucial role in bringing transparency and accountability to the agency."

DHS IG confirms an "audit" has been initiated

In a response letter about a month later, DHS IG Cuffari acknowledged the letter he'd received from Reps. Graves and Perry and wrote, "I share your sentiments that any disaster funding provided by Congress must be made available to all affected and that it cannot be conditioned or delayed based on political views."

"Following our standard case opening criteria and operating procedures, we referred the allegations to FEMA’s Office of Professional Responsibility for appropriate action," he continued. "We also reviewed the concerns raised in your letter as part of our work planning process and
shared the letter with our program offices for consideration."

"On December 17, 2024, my office initiated an audit of FEMA’s Assessment of Community Trends," Cuffari revealed. "The objective is to determine how well FEMA followed its policies and procedures when addressing safety concerns and determining community trends that impact disaster survivor assistance in response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton."

"We greatly appreciate the information you provided, as it aided our decision-making process," the IG added. "I will be glad to share the results of this audit, future reports on this topic, or any of our numerous projects, with you if you would like to schedule a briefing with me."

FEMA tried to downplay seriousness of the issue

The Hill noted that FEMA initially denied and downplayed the reports that some of its employees had deliberately avoided pro-Trump homes in hurricane disaster areas but eventually acknowledged that the allegations raised by whistleblowers were correct.

Indeed, at least one ex-FEMA worker has already been fired over the issue, though that terminated employee has since blamed her supervisors and claimed that she was "framed" for something that wasn't her responsibility.

Meanwhile, facing tough questions and criticism from Congress, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell acknowledged that the alleged avoidance of pro-Trump homes was "completely at odds with FEMA’s mission," but still insisted that such instances of overt partisanship were isolated occurrences and not a widespread problem for the agency.