Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sparked outrage by dramatically misrepresenting a study about survivors of the 2023 Hawaii wildfire in Maui and claiming that “1 in 6” survivors exchanged sexual favors for basic supplies.
The statistic, drawn from a limited survey of just 70 Filipino women, has become a political weapon in the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Noem was speaking at a FEMA Review Council meeting on Wednesday, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
The actual research told a far different story. As Khara Jabola-Carolus, a co-author of the report that was led by a local Filipina-led advocacy group, emphasized, “It’s qualitative data meant to give us an indication of what maybe are the issues being faced by women in this immigrant community after the wildfire. Our intent wasn’t to universalize it.”
The study revealed that 11 out of 70 surveyed women (16%) reported engaging in sexual activities with landlords, employers, or acquaintances in exchange for basic necessities — a definition that included everything from kissing to sexual intercourse, the Civil Beat reported.
But this was never meant to represent all Lahaina fire survivors.
Ruben Juarez, an economics professor, condemned Noem’s interpretation: “This limited sample cannot be generalized to the entire population of wildfire survivors,” he told Civil Beat.
“It is inaccurate and deeply irresponsible to imply that 1 in 6 people across Lahaina experienced this form of exploitation.”
Rick Nava, a Filipino community leader and wildfire survivor, was blunt about Noem’s comments: “If these people were not here seeing it, then I don’t think they have any right to talk bad about what happened in Lahaina.”
Senator Mazie Hirono was equally direct, stating on social media: “Noem, Trump, and the rest of this regime need to stop politicizing tragedies and start doing their jobs.”
Ironically, the original report actually called for more resources for FEMA, not its elimination. It recommended improvements like establishing a joint federal and local “gender violence-fighting headquarters” and requiring personnel to be trained in local demographics and cultural protocols.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dramatically claimed these women were “so desperate for food that they had to resort to such extreme measures,” calling it “un-American.” But experts argue this mischaracterizes both the study and the complex realities of post-disaster recovery.
