'Fired for doing my job': FEMA official says DOGE illegally scapegoated her

The chief financial officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said she was fired for taking an action that tech billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency task force signed off on her doing in the first place, CBS News reported Thursday.

Mary Comans, who has filed a lawsuit against her former agency, says that DOGE ordered her to sign off on payments for New York City to shelter migrants in hotels — then publicly accused her of illegally diverting emergency funds to shelter immigrants and fired her.

Speaking to CBS in an interview, Comans said, "I was fired illegally by the Trump administration for doing my job, for doing exactly what I was directed to do by the Trump political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security and at the DOGE. They told me to do these actions, to make these payments, and then they fired me."

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President Donald Trump has echoed similar claims about FEMA illegally housing migrants.

"They stole the money just like they stole it from a bank so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them in this year's election," he said at a campaign rally.

Aside from the fact that noncitizens cannot vote in U.S. elections, FEMA's shelter program, which pays to house migrants, is a completely separate program from disaster relief and the two are funded independently of each other.

Comans' lawsuit said "DHS and FEMA publicly disclosed information about her termination that was protected under the Privacy Act and that she was defamed by the false portrayal about her conduct," according to the report.

"At the time of her dismissal, Comans says the agency suggested falsely in a press release that she was a 'deep state activist,'" reported CBS. "Comans joined DHS in 2004, inspired to serve in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She called herself 'apolitical,' noting that she served both Republican and Democratic administrations, often deploying to the scenes of natural disasters to help manage the federal government's response."