Florida Lawmakers Proposed Bill to "Liberate FEMA" would Help Dept. of Homeland Security to Dismantle Office of Civil Rights if Passed
Department of Homeland Security Dismantling Civil Rights Offices as States Continue to Push Law and Policy That Coincidentally Aids Federal Government Agenda
Literally every reference is cited in the post as always, but just to offer the transparency these people claim to love but always avoid:
Office of Homeland Security is making cuts to Civil Rights Offices within the agency for getting in the way on immigration issues. Except the 3 offices being cut are the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (OCRL), the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman.
The OCRL is in charge of all civil rights under Dept. homeland security, not just immigrants. If an American citizen gets detained by homeland security, this is the office that makes sure your rights don't get violated while in custody and if they do, this is the office you have to go through for FOIA request to document you were even in custody. https://federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2025/03/homeland-security-makes-cuts-to-offices-overseeing-civil-rights-protections/
However, even with that cut, there is still a civil rights division within the FEMA Office https://www.dhs.gov/office-civil-rights-and-civil-liberties
https://www.fema.gov/about/offices/civil-rights
On the same day the Florida Reps proposed bill was announced to "liberate FEMA", the secretary of DHS also announced during a live broadcast that DHS was getting rid of FEMA.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5213057-noem-plans-eliminate-fema/
Under the bill, FEMA would be led by a Senate-confirmed director who would answer to the president as a cabinet member instead of being an agency within the Dept. Of Homeland Security.
This would mean DHS makes cuts to it's main civil rights office and loses the fema branch that handles civil rights under national emergencies.
Meanwhile, DHS, DOD, and DOJ have all announced that they plan to start using polygraphs to smoke out employees leaking information to the press and plan to hand people over to legal authorities if the polygraph leads to finding out sensitive information was leaked, even though polygraphs are not admissible in court. You know, like a violation of due process.
Meanwhile, in the executive power loving state of Louisiana, the governor announced the day before the Pentagon announced they plan to violate due process rights that the state of Louisiana office of Homeland security and emergency planning would now be shifted to be completely controlled by the national guard.
If FEMA is no longer an agency, that means that they do not have the authority to go to a state to aid in anyway without the president's say so. That means that in Louisiana if there is a national disaster like oh idk a fucking hurricane, there is no longer a federal agency making sure the state national guard doesn't violate civil rights.
If you've ever had the privilege of feeling uneasy seeing tanks rolling down your street and armed guardsmen standing in front of grocery stores during a time when you knew you still had a civil rights office to enforce your rights, then you hopefully understand why this is fucking scary to imagine martial law without any branch of government able protect your civil rights