The Trump administration detailed more than 100 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees to support the scaffolding of its immigration crackdown over the past year, according to a new report compiled by House Democrats.

The July 10 report, prepared by Democratic staff on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, details how the Department of Homeland Security used FEMA staff to support border and immigration enforcement operations, including by helping manage a “DHS Volunteer Force” comprising Defense Department employees.

The report also confirms that 125 FEMA employees from the agency’s human capital and security offices, respectively, were detailed starting late last summer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to support ICE’s ambitious hiring goals.

Some of those employees began returning to FEMA in January, while others were detailed until May 2026, according to the report.

The lawmakers behind the report argue the deployments threaten public trust in FEMA and further weaken an agency already flagging from thousands of workforce cuts.

“After the Trump administration hollowed out a third of FEMA’s workforce, it put disaster professionals to work as the ‘operational backbone’ of its cruel mass deportation agenda, likely in violation of federal law,” House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Ranking Member Greg Stanton (D-AZ) said. “FEMA exists for one reason: to be there for Americans on the worst day of their lives. We’re in the middle of a dangerous and destructive hurricane and wildfire season. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

He added that all FEMA employees detailed to ICE or Custom and Border Protection should be recalled “immediately.”

A DHS spokesperson pushed back on the House report when asked for comment.

“There are NO, and have been, NO FEMA employees coordinating or supporting massive raids, arrests, or deportations anywhere in the United States,” the spokesperson said. “Claims to the contrary are simply false. However, under the Biden administration, FEMA employees were deployed to the border for countless humanitarian missions, including activities such as babysitting and playing with unaccompanied minors at the border.”

“Add this debacle to the long list of FEMA failures under Biden such as completely inadequate response to Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina, and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to house illegal aliens including Laken Riley’s killer,” the spokesperson added, referring to FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which was created through congressional appropriations.

“Under the Trump Administration, FEMA is mission focused and dedicated to disaster response,” the statement concludes.

The report comes as lawmakers consider major reforms to FEMA. The full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing next week with former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, as well as state, local and private sector officials, on “Reforming FEMA: Ensuring the Nation’s Disaster Readiness Works for Americans.”

Leaders of the committee have advanced a bipartisan bill that would significantly reform FEMA and make the agency independent again, instead of being a component of the Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, the DHS inspector general announced this month that his office is evaluating whether DHS followed the law when it reassigned senior staff across DHS between January 2025 and March 2026.

FEMA the ‘connective tissue’

The committee’s report cites interviews with anonymous current and former FEMA employees, as well as information provided by the Government Accountability Office and news reports.

A former FEMA employee told committee investigators that the ICE’s human resources processing consumed “nearly all of FEMA’s hiring and personnel administration capacity.”

The details to ICE came as FEMA lost thousands of employees to deferred resignations and early retirements last year. The agency was also under a hiring freeze until May of this year.

FEMA told GAO that “human resources personnel supported ICE surge hiring efforts by reviewing applications for qualifications, issuing tentative and final job offers, coordinating start dates, classifying position descriptions, and processing benefits and payroll actions. FEMA Personnel Security Specialists conducted background investigation adjudications and made suitability determinations for prospective hires.”

Meanwhile, the report also highlights FEMA’s support for an initiative involving hundreds of DoD civilian employees being detailed to ICE over the past year.

One current FEMA employee said that agency staff were involved in recruiting, vetting and placing civilian DoD employees in the “DHS Volunteer Force.”  Under those details, DoD volunteers have been performing administrative, call center, fleet management and facility support roles to support immigration enforcement operations.

Meanwhile, a separate former FEMA employee told the House committee investigators that FEMA served as the “connective tissue” between DoD and ICE. The former employee estimated that the “field footprint” to support the immigration enforcement mission involved 50 to 80 FEMA personnel, with an additional 25 to 30 FEMA headquarters staff also supporting the mission in various capacities

FEMA told GAO that 41 FEMA personnel volunteered to deploy to DHS southern border and internal immigration enforcement missions, with 25 of those staff “currently deployed and serving in roles of volunteer sector lead, volunteer crew lead, ops coordinator and planning cell members.”

FEMA CORE staff

The House Dems’ report also raises legal concerns about how FEMA detailed certain staff to ICE and CBP.

A former FEMA employee told investigators that when an “insufficient” number of permanent FEMA employees volunteered for ICE and CBP details, the Trump administration opened the details to Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees.

The CORE employees received automatic contract renewals for participating in the details, according to the report.

“This created pressure for COREs to accept volunteer details to ICE and CBP because, in January and February 2025, most CORE contract renewals were denied to reduce the size of FEMA’s workforce and satisfy President Trump’s federal workforce reduction goals,” the report states.

The nonrenewal of CORE employees is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.

The House report points to how CORE staff are paid through the Disaster Relief Fund and typically limited to Stafford Act activities. But it found that no reimbursement agreement exists between ICE and FEMA for CORE details.

“The deployment of DRF-funded CORE employees on non-Stafford immigration enforcement details, without reimbursement agreements and for durations far exceeding prior administrative practice, raises substantial Anti-Deficiency Act concerns,” the report states.

Meanwhile, FEMA told GAO that the agency “followed standard management directed assignments and [Office of Personnel Management] guidance when detailing employees.”

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