U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made headlines Wednesday when she claimed that 1 in 6 Maui fire survivors traded sexual favors for basic supplies.
She said this to a council tasked with determining whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be eliminated. Noem was apparently referencing a report put out in May by the local group Tagnawa.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, under the Trump administration, has previously used the report to claim that FEMA is rife with neglect and mismanagement.
Khara Jabola-Carolus is one of the authors of the report, which focused on Maui’s Filipino community in the aftermath of the 2023 wildfires.
She told The Conversation that Noem and DHS are twisting the findings of the report, which says, "Survival sex in exchange for basic necessities post-disaster was reported by 16% of female Filipino fire survivors. These women engaged in a sexual relationship or sex in order to have a place to stay, food, or money after the Lahaina fire. This includes kissing, hugging, touching, and intercourse with a landlord, an employer, family members, friends and acquaintances."
Interview Highlights
On what Kristi Noem shared from the report
KHARA JABOLA-CAROLUS: The statistic that Kristi Noem referred to, either intentionally or unknowingly, actually spoke to immigrant women and Filipino women, specifically, who have been pressured and forced by economic coercion, essentially, into exchanging sex acts for basic needs post-disaster. So she was not sharing the information accurately, because the 1 in 6 statistic refers specifically to immigrant and Filipino women, not to all women affected by the Lahaina fire.
On the Tagnawa research model
JABOLA-CAROLUS: Tagnawa is a different model of disaster response that's really about humanizing the people who are typically seen as these downtrodden recipients of aid. ... Tagnawa is about community-based, data-based and feedback-based disaster response, where people from the community and trusted leaders in the community are organized to respond to the disaster. And so the people who participated in that particular survey were identified through a member of their community who also went through and survived the Lahaina fire. So this is a different methodology than something maybe more traditional or extractive, where we're in it together, and after the research is done, it's tied to action. It's tied to solutions. And this report provided solutions straight from women who survived the Lahaina fire, Filipino women, and also [a] diversity of experts on Maui, whether they're in the judiciary or law enforcement or mental health or gender-based violence. So this report really does speak to what the local community wants, and if Kristi Noem actually cares about that, then she would be proposing more funding for FEMA.
On Homeland Security's impact on immigrant women
JABOLA-CAROLUS: First and foremost, the Department of Homeland Security is the biggest threat to immigrant women's safety, period. So if there's any institution that needs to be defunded and dismantled, it would be the Department of Homeland Security. It acts as a second abuser or an accomplice to abusive partners, exploiters, in that it keeps women trapped in those abusive situations because they are too afraid to seek help from law enforcement and even from mental health professionals and health care professionals who they view as authorities or people who may even collaborate with the state and with DHS against them. ... The Department of Homeland Security and this aggressive escalation of forced removal and the siege on immigrant communities is actually going to drive women deeper into violence. So, having that particular agency try to co-opt the report is a total absurdity. That's my reaction is that it's very, very clear who is actually posing a threat to immigrant women in this political moment.
On the possibility of dismantling FEMA
JABOLA-CAROLUS: Any dismantling to the federal government's response to environmental disasters is a threat to our communities in terms of funding, in terms of infrastructure, and we know that it's also part of just a broader dismantling of the federal government, and anything that has to do with supporting women. Using our report to claim that the administration cares for women and is doing this out of compassion and concern for women, is not backed by the rest of its actions. Banning any research that contains terms like women, race or inclusivity is happening at the same time that they're quoting our research on women.
On what the public should know
JABOLA-CAROLUS: This report is actually receiving just as much positive attention and momentum statewide. So the state is taking action. Rep. Della Au Belatti is taking action to assist in developing a statewide disaster plan for women. Organizations like the Philippine Consulate, the Filipino Community Center, Tagnawa on Maui, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Maui County, all of these groups are activated and working to build a plan for Hawaiʻi, regardless of what is happening with the Trump administration.
This story aired on The Conversation on July 9, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn and Sophia McCullough adapted this interview for the web.
