Federal unions ask court to block any Homeland Security effort to dismantle FEMA

Unions for employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) want courts to block the agency’s dismantling.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and other unions for government workers filed a brief in federal court asking for an injunction of any efforts within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to eliminate the agency.

“Although the Department of Homeland Security briefly paused these actions during last week’s winter storms, the plaintiffs believe the agency intends to imminently resume the cuts,” reads an email from the AFGE. “Plaintiffs’ emergency request seeks not only to halt any new reductions, but also to undo all unlawful workforce cuts carried out since Jan. 1.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns last month ruled that DHS could not legally terminate FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program for mitigating costs before expected natural disasters.

“In sum, this is not a case about judicial encroachment on the discretionary authority of the Executive Branch. This is a case about unlawful Executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds for a specific and compelling purpose, and no more than that,” Stearns wrote in an order.

That followed a suit from the AFGE, AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union, and other local government unions.

In the latest brief, plaintiffs in the lawsuit argue that cutting FEMA staff right now would eliminate FEMA’s ability to function effectively, and that DHS should not be allowed to make such personnel changes.

Much of the legal action surrounds retaining Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE), a category of workers established in a 1988 law authorizing disaster relief and emergency assistance.

DHS previously declared that as of the start of 2026, FEMA cannot extend the employment of any CORE workers. But the unions argued such a freeze would derail ongoing recovery efforts from natural disasters, including several that occurred within Florida.

“CORE employees are currently working on disasters that include the recent winter storm, late 2025 flooding in Western Washington, the 2025 Los Angeles fires, Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton, wildfires in Maui, and flash flooding in Kerr County, Texas, among many others,” the brief states.

“FEMA also continues to provide substantial recovery assistance related to older disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, Ike, Sandy, Matthew, Harvey, Irma, and Maria. When FEMA personnel are deployed to a disaster area, ‘CORE employees … are the backbone of the long-term response and recovery,’ ‘making up about 90% of the FEMA workforce that remains on the ground for months, if not years, after a disaster to provide support.’”