The Biden-Harris government’s Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is suggesting the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)—a subagency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ostensibly tasked with responding to natural disasters—likely will not have enough money in its budget to get through hurricane season. While FEMA claims the catastrophic damage and costs from Hurricane Helene will limit its ability to respond to future storms, the agency announced $380 million in supplemental funding for illegal immigrant housing just a month ago—bringing the total to over $1 billion for the 2024 fiscal year.
Mayorkas made the remarks while traveling with President Joe Biden to North Carolina, where the western part of the state has seen catastrophic flooding and mudslides—with at least 160 declared dead so far—in the wake of Helene. The Biden cabinet official made similar claims in June, telling Congress that FEMA was underbudgeted.
In fiscal year 2024, FEMA saw an allocation of around $20 billion, while DHS received over $61 billion in total. In April, the disaster management agency announced it would “provide $640.9 million of available funds to enable non-federal entities to off-set allowable costs incurred for services associated with noncitizen migrant arrivals in their communities.” These grant funds primarily go to paying for food and shelter for illegal immigrants as they await their appearance before an immigration judge.
Despite the initial allotment for illegal immigrant housing, FEMA announced at the end of August that it would make an additional $380 million in grants available. The supplemental grants bring FEMA’s total spending on shelter and food for illegal immigrants to over $1 billion for the fiscal year.
The National Pulse reported earlier this week that eight illegal immigrants were arrested in flood-ravaged eastern Tennesse for looting in Hurricane Helene’s aftermath.