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While responding to the most damaging wildfires in the history of California, FEMA employees received an order “for immediate compliance” this week that states they must immediately change their vocabulary to comply with the Trump Administration’s preferred terminology on gender and immigration.
For example, FEMA employees are no longer allowed to call undocumented immigrants “migrants” or “undocumented individuals,” they must instead call them “undocumented aliens or illegal aliens.” FEMA can no longer refer to the idea of “integration,” it must begin to say “assimilation.”
The subject line of the email was "For Immediate Compliance."
"While the following chart presents examples of terminology that should be replaced, it should not be considered to be comprehensive, particularly in the immigration space. Please consult your program counsel for additional language if you are unsure," the email says. It then includes this table:
The “terminology changes” were sent to FEMA employees in the recovery division of Region 9 of FEMA, which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and U.S. Pacific Islands. The language changes mirror those required of ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security employees (FEMA is a part of DHS). Similar notices have gone out to huge parts of the federal government, including NASA. While the most devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles are no longer burning, FEMA is busy with recovery efforts as the city tries to begin planning how to rebuild. California governor Gavin Newsom has called the fires the “worst natural disaster in US history.”
But the email obtained by 404 Media indicates that Trump’s war on words extends to the federal workers tasked with helping, for example, people in Los Angeles recover from devastating wildfires. The mission of the recovery division is “to provide assistance to individuals and communities overwhelmed by all hazards, including acts of terrorism, natural disasters, or other emergencies.”
“This is the most 1984 email I’ve ever seen,” a FEMA employee told 404 Media. “For a group that hates political correctness—this contains politically correct terminology.”