The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continues to be criticized for its slow response to Hurricane Helene, similar to that of the DMV.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas made the shocking announcement that the hurricane emergency fund could soon run out.
Republicans have since claimed that FEMA money allocated for housing for illegal immigrants should go to struggling Americans, while Democrats say the money was never for hurricane relief and is not transferable.
While FEMA has been repeatedly criticized for its Helene response, another massive storm is headed toward Florida’s west coast and more destruction is expected.
All while funding for FEMA’s dedicated Non-Citizen Shelter and Services Program, which has received more than $1 billion since 2022, remains unavailable to Americans.
People clear flood debris from Monteath Auto Service after flooding from Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 4, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. More than 220 people died as a result of the storm. Cleanup will cost tens of billions of dollars
“The Biden-Harris administration has effectively turned FEMA into an agency that helps resettle and deal with illegal immigration,” Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance said Monday on Fox News.
“That will basically distract from their primary task of helping American citizens in their time of need,” he said. Ohio the senator continued. “It’s incompetence of the highest order.”
Over the past two years, FEMA has received more than $1 billion from taxpayers to specifically support illegal immigrants with housing and humanitarian services.
Non-citizen housing program has nearly doubled its budget from $363.8 million in 2023 to $650 million in 2024.
Additionally, $780 million in FEMA funding The Emergency Food and Shelter Program is allocated to non-citizens starting in 2022.
But the White House rejected claims about FEMA money for noncitizens on Monday, with Press Sec. Karine Jean-Pierre says, “No money is diverted from responses” to immigrants.
Although some Republicans say that’s not true.
‘Republicans are NOT lying about FEMA funds going to immigrants. It is well documented and has been for years. In fact, these are just some of the receipts,” Texas Republican Wesley Hunt posted on X along with clips showing reporters talking about FEMA resources for immigrants.
“This administration seems to think that if they deny reality long enough, the American people won’t notice,” another Texas Republican, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, posted on X. “But FEMA has spent hundreds of millions on its ‘Shelter and Services Program’ for immigrants this year, and it’s right there on the FEMA website.”
Republicans, however, say money for immigrants is not the only problem with FEMA.
People view flood damage following Hurricane Helene on October 3, 2024 in Bat Cave, North Carolina. More than 220 people died due to the storm
Members of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue Task Force search a flood-damaged area with a search canine following Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 4, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.
Migrants from Nepal, India and Bangladesh wait to be picked up by Border Patrol after crossing illegally into the United States.
“There are many different bureaucratic fiefdoms that sometimes delay the provision of necessary resources,” the Republican explained. “I think the fundamental mistake that the Kamala Harris administration has made here… is that from the beginning, they should have imposed military-style command and control.”
“A military commander on the ground needs to be empowered to get helicopters where they need to go, to get supplies where they need to go, to eliminate some of the FAA bureaucracy,” Vance continued.
“I really think the problem here is that it’s like the DMV on an industrial scale.”
President Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, also criticized the White House for its response to Helene and its decision on illegal immigrants.
“When you talk to the people directly affected, they will tell you this has been a total failure,” Johnson, who has traveled to survey the damage in Georgia and Florida, said on Fox News. “I think in many cases FEMA has lost sight of its core mission, and the administration has not demonstrated that it was prepared for this eventuality and this terrible disaster.”
“Their mission is to help people in times like this of natural disaster, not to commit to using funds from any account to resettle illegal aliens who have crossed the border.”
“The American people are disgusted by this,” he added.
FEMA SSP allocated more than $1 billion to shelter and support noncitizens starting in 2022
Republican Vice Presidential Candidate JD Vance Criticized FEMA’s Non-Citizen Fund
Vance also criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ leadership during the disaster response.
A FEMA whistleblower told Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz’s office last week that agency funds were being wasted.
Gaetz then followed up on the allegations by sending a letter to Mayorkas demanding to know more.
The letter also alleges that “hundreds, if not thousands” of first responders and service members had been “without deployment orders,” some waiting in hotels while others “have remained idle” as Americans across the Southeast remained in dire need. .
The whistleblower also alleged that FEMA withheld pre-disaster aid before Helene.
Flooding near Asheville, North Carolina. More than 100 people in the state died due to the storm
An American flag is reflected in the waters left over from Hurricane Helene on October 4.
“There’s a lot of money at FEMA that has gone to illegal aliens that is somehow separate from the amount of money that should rightfully go to American citizens,” Vance said Monday.
“What Donald Trump would do, if he were president, is impose real leadership, force the bureaucracy to respond, not at a bureaucratic pace, but at a business pace, to the needs of American citizens.”