It is time to stop allocating FEMA funds to illegal immigrants

Three months ago, indicted Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas promised reporters that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was “tremendously prepared for hurricane season.” Now he’s changing his attitude. On Oct. 2, he claimed that FEMA doesn’t have “the resources” to get through hurricane season, meaning people suffering the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene will have to fend for themselves, let alone Destruction that Hurricane Milton is now causing to the people of Florida. In response to this crisis, Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday announced $157 million in additional aid for displaced people, not in our own country, but in Lebanon. Meanwhile, people in Lebanon and Tennessee are volunteering and sending help to their fellow citizens across the state.

FEMA’s incompetent management is an age-old problem. When Hurricane Andrew ripped through South Florida and into the bayous near Lafayette, Louisiana, where I grew up, in 1992, it left a long trail of death and destruction in its wake. My community couldn’t wait for FEMA to get its act together, so as an 18-year-old Eagle Scout, I helped clear the rubble. I know many young people in the Southeast are doing the same thing today.

But what makes this botched response from Biden and Harris unique — and particularly outrageous — is that the same administration that claims it doesn’t have enough money to support Americans in need has given $1.6 billion to FEMA since October 2021 -Funds confiscated to help illegal immigrants.

The decision came in the fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, when Congress added $150 million to FEMA to “provide shelter and other services to families and individuals exposed to DHS.”

This error then compounded in the fiscal year 2023 and 2024 appropriations, when Congress directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to allocate $800 million and $650 million, respectively, to the newly named Shelter and Services Program Hand over to FEMA.

Biden and border czar Harris have not prioritized these resources for Americans suffering from natural disasters. Rather, they distributed them to organizations that support illegal immigrants that DHS encountered, for example by purchasing nearly 14,000 hotel rooms for illegal immigrants in New York City over the past two years.

Historically, these funds and other public benefits were only available to U.S. citizens or individuals who had achieved qualified alien status, such as lawful permanent residents, refugees, and human trafficking survivors. But under the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policy, almost all migrants are now considered “skilled.” And the few who don’t are shamefully encouraged by FEMA to find ways around the law under the guise of “diverse immigration status.”

Washington routinely treats FEMA funding as a political football to achieve other priorities. For example, in August 2023, Biden and his allies in Congress advanced a supplemental funding bill that made funding for FEMA’s depleted Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) contingent on Congress allocating billions in new funding for military assistance to Ukraine in the fight against Russia. I warned lawmakers at the time that this set a dangerous precedent. Caring for Americans should always come first and be considered separately from other, less important priorities. Unsurprisingly, however, the Congress failed again.

The decision by lawmakers and bureaucrats to spend U.S. taxpayer dollars on illegal immigrants breaking our laws and waging wars overseas over suffering U.S. citizens is a betrayal of the trust of the American people. It is also something President Trump routinely rejected during his time in office, even over the objections of Republican Party members. To remedy the situation, both Secretary Mayorkas and Congress have options. As Andrew Arthur of the Center for Immigration Studies points out, Title V of the 2024 DHS appropriations bill allows Mayorkas to carry over “up to 5 percent of all appropriations for the current fiscal year” — meaning he can take millions from the migrant programs and other programs Send it to disaster relief.

And when Congress reconvenes to provide the “comprehensive disaster relief” that President Biden has called for, it should begin taking money directly from these rotten programs that only serve to bring migrants into the American economy at the expense of American taxpayers to resettle the heartland. Congress has the power to do this and there is no need to wait. On Saturday, the death toll from Hurricane Helene reached 227, making it the deadliest hurricane in America since Katrina struck my home state in 2005. At the time, the media and the American people rightly blamed President George W. Bush and his administration for their poor response.

With Secretary Mayorkas claiming that he has almost no money left for Americans after providing just $45 million in aid, it is time for this White House – and all of Washington – to be held accountable as well.

Today, as state and local officials work with first responders, Eagle Scouts and good Samaritans to restore power, recover missing people and rebuild homes, we should remember that America’s greatest asset is the resilience of its people, and that America’s greatest responsibility lies in the betrayal of its ruling elites.