logo
FEMA head told staff he was previously unaware US has a hurricane season

FEMA head told staff he was previously unaware US has a hurricane season

Yahoo2 days ago

Staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency were caught off-guard and left bewildered when the disaster relief agency's new acting head David Richardson told personnel that he was previously unaware the United States has a hurricane season, which started Sunday.
Richardson made the comments during a briefing Monday morning, multiple sources told CNN. While some interpreted the remark as a joke, others said it raised concerns about the recently appointed acting administrator, who has no prior experience managing natural disasters.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN the comment was made in jest, adding, 'FEMA is laser focused on disaster response, and protecting the American people.'
It remains unclear whether Richardson's comment – joking or not – reflects a lack of knowledge before assuming his current role. In recent weeks, he has repeatedly referenced FEMA's preparations for hurricane season in meetings and interviews.
Reuters first reported Richardson's comments in the meeting.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appointed Richardson – a former Marine combat veteran and martial-arts instructor – in early May, firing President Donald Trump's first acting FEMA chief just hours after he broke from other Trump officials and told lawmakers he did not support eliminating FEMA.
Richardson has promised to enforce Trump's agenda. In an all-hands meeting on his first day at FEMA, Richardson told agency staff he will 'run right over' anyone who tries to prevent him from carrying out the president's mission, CNN previously reported.
Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has installed more than a half-dozen of its officials into key roles at FEMA to effectively run the agency. Most of them, like Richardson, have little experience handling disasters.
In Monday's meeting, Richardson announced that FEMA will not release an updated disaster plan for this hurricane season as previously promised, saying the agency does not want to get ahead of Trump's newly formed FEMA Review Council, sources said.
Instead, FEMA will largely default back to its operating procedure from 2024, though the agency enters this hurricane season in turmoil, with a dramatically smaller workforce.
Roughly 10% of FEMA's total staff have left since January, including a large swath of its senior leadership, and the agency is projected to lose close to 30% of its workforce by the end of the year, shrinking FEMA from about 26,000 workers to roughly 18,000, according to a FEMA official briefed on the numbers.
In a memo issued last month that was obtained by CNN, Richardson officially rescinded FEMA's 2022-2026 strategic plan, saying it 'contains goals and objectives that bear no connection to FEMA accomplishing its mission.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk's name from ship
San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk's name from ship

Washington Post

time6 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

San Francisco leaders blast Trump for trying to erase gay rights icon Harvey Milk's name from ship

SAN FRANCISCO — Leaders in San Francisco are blasting the Trump administration for stripping the name of gay rights activist Harvey Milk from a U.S. naval ship, and especially during Pride Month , when people gather to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. Milk is a revered figure in San Francisco history, a former city supervisor and gay rights advocate who was fatally shot along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. Just last month, California marked what would have been Milk's 95th birthday with proclamations heralding his authenticity, kindness and calls for unity.

El Salvador deportees are entitled to due process, judge rules

time7 minutes ago

El Salvador deportees are entitled to due process, judge rules

A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to give the hundreds of men deported to El Salvador in March under the Alien Enemies Act the right to challenge their detentions as unlawful. In a 69-page order issued Wednesday, Judge James Boasberg gave the Trump administration until June 11 to come up with a plan to allow the men currently detained at El Salvador's notorious CECOT mega-prison to practice their due process rights. "In short, the Government must facilitate the Class's ability to seek habeas relief to contest their removal under the Act. Exactly what such facilitation must entail will be determined in future proceedings," Boasberg wrote. "Although the Court is mindful that such a remedy may implicate sensitive diplomatic or national-security concerns within the exclusive province of the Executive Branch, it also has a constitutional duty to provide a remedy that will 'make good the wrong done,'" he wrote. In what could portend the next chapter in a legal battle that has ensnared the Trump administration for nearly three months, Judge Boasberg reached the conclusion that the men -- regardless of their alleged criminal status -- deserve the right to challenge the government's claim. "Defendants plainly deprived these individuals of their right to seek habeas relief before their summary removal from the United States -- a right that need not itself be vindicated through a habeas petition. Perhaps the President lawfully invoked the Alien Enemies Act. Perhaps, moreover, Defendants are correct that Plaintiffs are gang members," Boasberg wrote. "But -- and this is the critical point -- there is simply no way to know for sure, as the CECOT Plaintiffs never had any opportunity to challenge the Government's say-so," he wrote. The Trump administration touched off a legal battle in March when it invoked the Alien Enemies Act -- an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States. An official with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acknowledged that "many" of the men deported on March 15 lack criminal records in the United States -- but said that "the lack of specific information about each individual actually highlights the risk they pose" and "demonstrates that they are terrorists with regard to whom we lack a complete profile."

A US judge halts the deportation of the Egyptian family of the Boulder firebombing suspect
A US judge halts the deportation of the Egyptian family of the Boulder firebombing suspect

Boston Globe

time8 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

A US judge halts the deportation of the Egyptian family of the Boulder firebombing suspect

The family members have not been charged in the attack on a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in the Sunday attack in downtown Boulder. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Wednesday that the family were being processed for removal proceedings. It's rare that family members of a person accused of a crime are detained and threatened with deportation. Advertisement 'It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,' attorneys for the family wrote in the lawsuit. 'Such methods of collective or family punishment violates the very foundations of a democratic justice system.' Soliman's wife, 18-year-old daughter, two minor sons, and two minor daughters all are Egyptian citizens, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. 'We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,' Noem said in a statement. Advertisement Noem also said federal authorities would immediately crack down on people who overstay their visas, in response to the Boulder attack. Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his planned attack, according to court documents that, at times, spelled his name as 'Mohammed.' Soliman's wife said she was 'shocked' to learn her husband had been arrested in the attack, according to the lawsuit. Earlier Wednesday, authorities raised the number of people injured in the attack from 12 to 15, plus a dog. Boulder County officials said in a news release that the victims include eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88. The Associated Press on Wednesday sent an email to prosecutors seeking more details on the newly identified victims. Soliman had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday's demonstration at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling 'Free Palestine,' police said. Soliman, an Egyptian man who federal authorities say has been living in the US illegally, did not carry out his full plan 'because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,' police wrote in an affidavit. According to an FBI affidavit, Soliman told police he was driven by a desire 'to kill all Zionist people' — a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack. A vigil is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the local Jewish community center. Advertisement Soliman was born in el-Motamedia, an Egyptian farming village in the Nile Delta province of Gharbia, about 75 miles north of Cairo, according to an Egyptian security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media. Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, Soliman spent 17 years in Kuwait, according to court documents. Soliman arrived in the US in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that has also expired. Hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas each year in the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security reports. Soliman told authorities that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting for his daughter to graduate before carrying it out, the affidavit said. A newspaper in Colorado Springs that profiled one of Soliman's children in April noted the family's journey from Egypt to Kuwait and then to the US. It said after initially struggling in school, his daughter landed academic honors and volunteered at a local hospital. Soliman has been charged with a federal hate crime as well as attempted murder counts at the state level, but authorities say additional charges could come. He is being held in a county jail on a $10 million cash bond and is scheduled to make an appearance in state court on Thursday. His attorney, Kathryn Herold, declined to comment after a state court hearing Monday. Public defenders' policy prohibits speaking to the media. Advertisement Witnesses and police have said Soliman set himself on fire as he hurled the second incendiary device. Authorities said they believe Soliman acted alone. Although they did not elaborate on the nature of his injuries, a booking photo showed him with a large bandage over one ear.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store