Judge Illston rules DHS cannot order FEMA cut in half

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled on Friday that the Department of Homeland Security acted unlawfully when it directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut its workforce by half. The 32-page order, issued in the Northern District of California, says DHS "unlawfully usurped the authority" of FEMA to make its own personnel decisions.

Illston described the staffing target as "arbitrary and capricious." FEMA had projected 11,383 employees for the coming fiscal year, about half of earlier levels. The judge wrote that the number "appears as if pulled from thin air." The planned cut included thousands of Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery workers, known as CORE, who take two- to four-year appointments and often stay through long recoveries.

What the statute actually says

The Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act limits what a Homeland Security secretary may do to FEMA. The secretary "may not substantially or significantly reduce the authorities, responsibilities, or functions of the Agency." Illston held that taking CORE renewals and headcount away from FEMA broke that rule and also broke the Administrative Procedure Act.

The lawsuit was brought by unions that represent FEMA staff. They argued that a 50 percent cut would damage the legal duty to answer hurricanes, floods and fires, that Congress had not approved the cut, and that the order came from then-Secretary Kristi Noem rather than from FEMA's own career line. Court papers say FEMA supervisors and the chief human capital officer at the time did not agree with the 50 percent figure, and that DHS officials worked to put that figure into the annual staffing plan over those objections.

The judge also faulted FEMA and DHS officials, in a related decision, for using the Signal messaging app on personal phones to discuss the cuts and then deleting the messages.

What the order does not yet do

Friday's ruling is on liability. Reuters noted that it does not include remedies or penalties. That next step will decide whether CORE terms snap back to two or four years, whether the 11,383 ceiling is vacated, and how many people already pushed out can return.

Some facts on the ground have already moved. Since 22 January 2026 FEMA has not been systematically refusing CORE renewals. The record still shows DHS holding the pen on those renewals, and the new terms running six months to one year instead of the older two- or four-year appointments.

Peak Atlantic hurricane season is underway even in a quiet year. Wildfire bills in the West do not wait on a remedies hearing. Illston's finding is that the parent department cannot invent a headcount and then force the disaster agency to live inside it. How many people that puts back on a deployment roster is the question the court left for the next order.