A Biden-Harris administration official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) ordered Hurricane Milton relief effort workers in Florida to skip the surveying of homes with signs expressing support for President-elect Donald Trump.
Internal FEMA communications obtained by The Daily Wire and confirmed by multiple federal employees show that Marn’i Washington, a FEMA supervisor, instructed workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump” while surveying the damage and identifying residents qualified for federal aid in Lake Placid, Florida. According to The Daily Wire, Washington verbally relayed the instructions on October 22 and in a group chat on October 27.
Federal employees confirmed to The Daily Wire that at least 20 houses with Trump signs or Trump flags were bypassed as a result of Washington’s instructions. The outlet noted that the employees who shared the information were volunteers from various agencies under the Department of Homeland Security who worked as a surge capacity force team in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.
“I know they’re short-staffed, I thought we could go help and make a difference,” an employee told The Daily Wire. “When we got there we were told to discriminate against people. It’s almost unbelievable to think that somebody in the federal government would think that’s okay.”
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According to The Daily Wire, the FEMA employees impacted by Washington’s directive were working in Highlands County, Florida, which is an area that Trump dominated in the 2024 presidential election. Highlands County experienced torrential rain and wind, tornadoes, and flooding due to Hurricane Milton.
Following Washington’s instructions that it would be “best practice” for workers to “avoid homes advertising Trump,” multiple Florida addresses were marked “not able to access property.” Explanations included, “Per leadership no stop Trump flag,” “Trump sign,” “Trump sign no entry per leadership,” and Trump sign, no contact per leadership.”
Following The Daily Wire’s report of FEMA workers bypassing the homes of Trump supporters despite the homes being impacted by Hurricane Milton, a FEMA spokesperson told The Daily Wire that the agency was “horrified” and “deeply disturbed” by Washington’s actions. The agency explained that it was taking “extreme actions to correct this situation.”
“While we believe this is an isolated incident, we have taken measures to remove the employee from their role and are investigating the matter to prevent this from happening ever again,” the spokesperson added. “The employee who issued this guidance had no authority and was given no direction to tell teams to avoid these homes and we are reaching out to the people who may have not been reached as a result of this incident.”
