A multi-agency team of about 50 people surveying storm-damaged Chicago was reportedly told to stand down earlier this month over concerns their operations would overlap with an unexpected contingent of ICE agents conducting patrols in the area.
On November 6, about ten groups of disaster workers, including those from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, were told to stand down for the day, as FEMA agents worried the presence of ICE agents and vehicles in the area could spark chaos or conflict that would put citizens and government employees at risk, The Washington Post reported.
The overlap came despite an alleged warning in October that a FEMA regional administrator gave to the Department of Homeland Security about the planned surveying operations. Disaster personnel were in the area because state officials requested assistance mapping damage after the Trump administration denied an initial appeal for a disaster declaration to respond to the summer flooding.
The alleged decision to pull back meant teams reportedly did not return to parts of Gage Park, a hard-hit area struggling with sewer backups and mold in the wake of the July and August flooding.
The Independent has contacted FEMA, DHS and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency for comment.
The federal government has been surging immigration agents in the Chicago area since September as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” and their presence has been met with continued protests.
As part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, the president has shifted both funds and focus away from disaster aid and toward deportation operations.
The White House has reassigned agents from across the government, including FEMA, to immigration missions.
In August, the Trump administration moved to shift $155 million from FEMA to pay for immigration detention space, and the White House has threatened to cut off federally funded volunteer aid groups that offer services to undocumented people.
Immigration officials have also arrested immigrants actively involved in battling disasters, such as an August case where the Border Patrol detained a firefighter in Washington.
During the campaign, Trump and his allies politicized the typically non-partisan work of disaster response, spreading false claims that under the Biden administration FEMA was avoiding Republican areas and diverting disaster funds to support immigrants.
In this environment of suspicion, FEMA workers faced threats, ultimately unfounded, that militias were hunting for relief workers during the response to Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.
