The following article is a supplement to the MRC Report: The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship Initiatives.
Initiative #29
Hurricane Helene
Type of Censorship: Direct Action
Agencies Involved:
- Department of Homeland Security
- Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA)
Summary:
In the devastating aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, multiple Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) administrators ordered their subordinates to deny assistance Florida disaster victims whose houses displayed signs supporting President Trump. Homeowners would have had to self-censor and remove their political signage just to get the same assistance as their neighbors.
As outrage over FEMA’s discrimination grew, the agency — which bombarded its employees with explicitly racist propaganda, according to The Washington Free Beacon — created a webpage insisting that the critiques of the agency’s response were misinformation. Among the reports FEMA labeled as false was that its administrators were refusing Starlink employees access to provide disaster relief — something Starlink’s own founder had confirmed was true. Another claim which FEMA dismissed — that it did not have enough funds to assist the sun belt state residents — actually contradicted what Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas himself had said. FEMA Administrator Criswell agreed with a CBS News reporter, dismissing the criticism of her agency as “weaponized disinformation” and complaining that if law enforcement did not intervene to protect her staff from the “demoralizing” speech, her agency was “not going to be in a position where we can help people.”
Key Individuals:
- Deanne Criswell, Administrator of FEMA
- Chad Hershey, FEMA Disaster Survival Assistance Task Force Lead
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
- Marn’i Washington, FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Crew Leader
