HIGHLANDS COUNTY, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling for an investigation into FEMA after FEMA volunteers reportedly told the Daily Wire that the agency asked them to avoid the homes of the president-elect’s supporters Donald Trump during the damage survey in Highlands County. Hurricane Milton.

According to internal text messages reviewed by the publication, Lake Placid workers avoided about 20 homes citing “the Trump ad.”

Governor DeSantis said the Florida Division of Emergency Management will investigate the incident.

Dozens of Republican lawmakers also spoke, including Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a FEMA spokesperson said the agency was “deeply disturbed” after the incident, noting that the official who issued the instruction “was not given any instructions to say teams to avoid these houses.

FEMA’s full statement to Fox News Digital:

“FEMA helps all survivors, regardless of political preference or affiliation and we are deeply troubled by the actions of this employee. Although we believe this is an isolated incident, we have taken steps to remove the employee from their role and investigate the matter to prevent this from happening. The employee who issued these directives had no authority and received no instructions to tell crews to avoid these homes. and we are reaching out to people who may not have been contacted following this incident. This is an issue we take extremely seriously and we are doing everything we can to ensure all survivors receive support. To date, we have helped more than 365,000 households affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in the state of Florida and provided more than $898 million in direct assistance to survivors. this happened and so we took extreme measures to correct this situation and ensured that the issue was addressed at all levels. Helping people is what we do best and our staff across the agency will continue to serve survivors for as long as it takes. »

FEMA Director Deanne Criswell commented on the matter on X, calling it reprehensible. She added that the employee had been fired and would be referred to the Office of Special Counsel.