A staff member at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reportedly told disaster relief workers to steer clear of homes with signs supporting President-elect Donald Trump, according to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell who spoke on Saturday.

The unnamed employee has been terminated, as confirmed by Criswell in a social media post, which emphasized that this behavior breaches FEMA’s fundamental principles of providing assistance regardless of political views.

Criswell stated, “Over 22,000 FEMA employees work daily to uphold our core values, committed to assisting people before, during, and after disasters, often at the expense of their own family time to aid disaster victims.”

She added, “This behavior was unacceptable. I want to assure all employees and the public that such actions will not be tolerated at FEMA, and individuals will be held responsible for misconduct.”

The situation has been escalated to the Office of Special Counsel for further investigation, according to Criswell.

“I will strive to prevent such incidents from occurring again,” Criswell remarked.

The incident was first highlighted by the conservative outlet Daily Wire, which reported that the directive was given amid the response efforts to Hurricane Milton in Lake Placid, Florida.

In reaction, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took to social media to announce his directive for the state’s Division of Emergency Management to conduct an investigation into what he termed “the federal government’s discriminatory actions against Floridians supporting Donald Trump.”

DeSantis expressed optimism about “new leadership coming to DC,” suggesting that those responsible for such conduct could face dismissal.

Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, criticized the actions as “against the very intent of disaster relief” and requested an investigation by the Inspector General. Similarly, Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri condemned the behavior as “illegal,” calling for those involved to be identified, terminated, and possibly prosecuted.

YSL News has contacted both FEMA and Trump’s campaign for their responses.