GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana addressed claims the Biden-Harris administration diverted Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to the efforts to combat illegal immigration, stating the fund pools are “different” but that he can understand why Americans are “frustrated.”
“The streams of funding are different; that is not an untrue statement, of course,” said Johnson on Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday.” “But the problem is with the American people, see, and what they’re frustrated by is that FEMA should be involved. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s mission is to help people in times like this natural disaster. Not to be engaged in using any pool of funding from any account for resettling aliens who have come across the border. That’s what the Biden administration, Kamala Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas have been engaged in.”
Karine Jean-Pierre, White House press secretary, denied last week that FEMA resources were going to illegal immigrants but cited FEMA funds for migrants in 2022.
“Former President Trump is accusing the Biden administration of using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants. How is the White House responding to that?” asked a reporter during a Friday press conference.
“I mean, it’s just categorically false. It is not true. It is a false statement,” responded Jean-Pierre.
Since then, critics have compared her statement to comments made in 2022, where she referenced FEMA resources were available to illegal immigrants.
“FEMA Regional Administrators have been meeting with city officials on-site to coordinate — to coordinate available federal support from FEMA and other federal agencies,” said Jean-Pierre to reporters during a press conference on September 16, 2022.
“Funding is also available through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter program to eligible local governments and not-for-profit organizations upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants,” added Jean-Pierre.
FEMA has a funding pool earmarked explicitly for natural disasters. At the same time, Congress called on FEMA in 2022 to disperse funds from Customs and Border Protection to assist American communities affected by the migrant crisis. FEMA’s website currently has a “Hurricane Helene: Rumor Response” page to address what they refer to as false claims surrounding the recovery effort. This page includes a reprimand of the claim that FEMA diverted disaster response funds to border-related issues.”
“This is false. No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance are funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” posted FEMA in response to the claim.
Hurricane Helene has devasted parts of the southern U.S. and left over 220 people dead after flooding devastated cities and towns across Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Mayorkas drew attention for saying FEMA didn’t have enough funding for hurricane season
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, drew national attention last week when he stated FEMA doesn’t have enough funding to make it through hurricane season, which doesn’t wrap up until November.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” said Mayorkas Wednesday, increasing concerns about funds for Americans left displaced by Helene. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
However, the DHS said that FEMA has the funds to assist those affected.
“FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts,” said spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg on X. “As [Administrator Deanne Criswell] said, she has the complete authority to spend against the President’s budget. However, we’re not out of hurricane season yet, so we need to keep a close eye on it.”
Speaker Johnson said during his Sunday interview that when citizens take public transportation and see illegal migrants traveling across the nation, their tickets are “gleefully” paid for by the Biden-Harris administration utilizing non-governmental organizations.
“When you see illegals in your local airport, and you see them being transported around the country with planes, trains, and automobiles to every community, everywhere, every state’s a border state now because of that. That’s the NGOs, the non-governmental organizations mostly, that are transporting those people around. And then they send the receipts to the federal government,” continued Johnson.
“And Biden, Harris, and Mayorkas gleefully pay those receipts because they open the border intentionally. The American people are disgusted by this. They’re fed up with it, and so are Republicans in Congress. And it’ll stop after November 5 because we’re going to have a unified government with Republicans in charge, and we will bring sanity back to this situation,” added Johnson.
