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In a meeting of the Portland City Council this week, a bureau director delivered alarming news: $5 million in federal disaster relief, a significant portion of the bureau’s annual budget, could soon be in jeopardy.
That’s the grim news Shad Ahmed, director of the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, told the council on Wednesday. Later emails clarified that the funds could be jeopardized by a conflict with the White House over diversity and immigration policy.
Ahmed’s warning came in response to a question from Councilor Candace Avalos about how the unpredictable mandates from the Trump administration could impact funding across various city bureaus, including Ahmed’s.
“We were just made aware that there’s some potential language that will conflict with Portland values that will be inserted into any agreements accepting federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security,” Ahmed said. “And so we’re very concerned that that puts at risk the significant portion of our federal funding, which would be about $4.5 million.”
Ahmed called it a “very developing situation” that, if it came to pass, could threaten anywhere from seven to 10 employees in his bureau.
The Bureau of Emergency Management is unique in that most of its work is done either in preparation or in response to natural disasters—like severe heat and cold events, flooding and earthquakes—that are difficult to reliably predict. If the mayor declares a weather emergency, Ahmed’s bureau assumes control of various city functions in order to respond to the emergency.
The bureau has an annual budget of $9.5 million and has only around 20 employees. About half of its budget comes from federal grants.
Ahmed said he’s heard that the change in contract language could also be “retroactive,” meaning it could affect the bureau’s federal funding in the current fiscal year.
“That is a very significant concern,” Ahmed said.
In a follow-up email to Councilor Steve Novick, Ahmed elaborated further: “Basically, the feds are circulating draft language for all recipients to agree to, that would run counter to city core values (recipients must disavow [diversity, equity and inclusion], voluntarily comply with all ICE requests, etc.),” Ahmed wrote to Novick. “If this is finalized as-is, that would put about $5M, or somewhere between 7 to 10 [full-time employees] at risk, effective July 1, 2025.”
The draft language circulated by DHS, shared with WW by the bureau, contains sections about complying with requirements “related to coordination and cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and immigration officials” including honoring “requests for cooperation, such as participation in joint operations, sharing of information, or requests for short-term detention of an alien pursuant to a valid detainer” and providing “access to detainees, such as when an immigration officer seeks to interview a person who might be a removable alien.”
The draft language circulated also contains a provision requiring the grant recipient not to “operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.”
Portland officials are preparing to take those provisions to court.
“The city is exploring all possible options, including legal options to be ready to challenge,” says bureau spokeswoman Jaymee Cuti, “should these terms be finalized.”