On July 4th, devastating flash floods tore through Texas, leaving hundreds dead or missing. In the days that followed, FEMA’s response was slow and painfully inadequate. Now, officials are speaking out, blaming Noem’s policies for tying their hands and delaying life-saving aid.

According to reports from CNN and The New York Times, Noem implemented new rules that created extra red tape, including a policy requiring her personal approval for any FEMA spending over $100,000. Because of this, special search and rescue teams trained specifically for flood disasters were forced to sit idle, waiting on Noem’s signature. That signature didn’t come until more than 72 hours after the floods began – three critical days during which people were trapped, missing, and dying.

Texas first responders also requested aerial imaging to help locate survivors. That, too, was held up by Noem’s approval process.

Meanwhile, FEMA’s call center, an essential resource for those in a disaster zone, was overwhelmed. On July 5th, just one day after the floods began, FEMA had to lay off hundreds of contracted workers after Noem failed to renew their contracts. With fewer staff answering phones, thousands of emergency calls went unanswered. On July 6th, only one out of every three calls was being picked up.

FEMA’s response to a disaster of this size would normally be far more comprehensive. But under Noem, the agency has been gutted. Instead of preparing FEMA to face the growing number of climate-related disasters, Noem has redirected its mission, downplaying its role in disaster relief and pushing responsibility onto overwhelmed state governments.

The lack of response is outrageous, but unfortunately not surprising. Noem has shown us time and again that her priorities lie not in protecting Americans from disaster, but in carrying out harsh immigration crackdowns. She’s ordered people deported without due process and sent detainees to dangerous prisons in El Salvador. Her department is built around cruelty and punishment, not safety and disaster relief.

It is crystal clear where Noem’s priorities lie: when California Senator Alex Padilla criticized her at a press conference in June, her agents immediately tackled him to the ground and handcuffed him. But when hundreds of Texans, many of them children, were drowning, she took three days to act.

Her failure to act swiftly and compassionately during one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent U.S. history is a disturbing abdication of duty. She had the tools, and she chose to delay.

That’s not leadership — it’s negligence. We deserve better from those in charge of our safety. Noem has repeatedly shown us that she is more committed to executing the Trump Administration’s inhumane immigration agenda than she is to protecting American lives. It’s up to all of us to hold her accountable and to demand a government that puts people first.