‘The American people deserve better': Fired FEMA employee's perspective on DOGE cuts

For the past month, the Trump Administration has taken a chainsaw approach to slashing the federal workforce, axing thousands of civil servants from their jobs in the president’s quest to reshape the government. 

The agencies impacted include the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

Here in Florida, we see FEMA at work on a regular basis. When natural disasters strike, FEMA and state officials work together to help the victims. 

“To show up for the American people on their worst day,” explained Paris Rossiter, who just got fired from his job at FEMA. 

Six months ago, Rossiter was promoted. That made him a probationary employee and a potential target for Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. On President’s Day, Rossiter got a call from his boss. His last day at work would be the next day, and there would be no severance and almost no continuation of benefits. 

“This was very callous, and it felt very punitive at the time, it felt like I’d done something wrong,” Rossiter said, admitting he’s still angry, especially since his supervisor had just told him he’d be eligible for another promotion, and then a few days later, he was getting fired. 

“The fraudsters, liars, cheaters, globalists and deep state bureaucrats are being sent packing,” President Donald Trump said over the weekend at the CPAC conference. 

Rossiter says he’s none of those things. He’s a husband and a dad with one child in college and two in high school. He could be anyone’s neighbor, a friend, or another parent at the PTA meeting. 

“I would like the public to know that everyone who works in the federal civil service made a choice to serve other Americans, we are not nameless, we are not faceless bureaucrats, we took an oath to defend the constitution and the country,” Rossiter said. 

He most recently worked on coordinating the response in Florida to hurricanes Helene and Milton. So far, the Trump administration has cut 200 people from FEMA.

“Fewer people doing the work means fewer people being helped, and that’s the bottom line,” said Rossiter in response to my question about how the cuts will impact FEMA.

The agency was understaffed before the DOGE cuts, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. 

“We’re removing all of the unnecessary, incompetent, and corrupt bureaucrats from the federal workforce,” Trump said at CPAC. 

Rossiter said businesses don’t terminate employees in such an abrupt manner without explanation, so neither should the government.

“I would say that the way this is being done is wrong, I would say we’re better than this and the American people deserve better than this,” Rossiter said. 

I asked him what he says to people who support the cuts as a way to save taxpayer money. 

“I say that at the end of every cut, there’s a human being,” Rossiter said. 

Rossiter said his union is fighting the mass terminations, saying they are illegal. In the meantime, he’s looking for a new job.