By Casey Harper (The Middle Sq.)
The Biden-Harris administration took a tidal wave of criticism this week after U.S. Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas advised reporters that the Federal Emergency Administration Administration didn’t have sufficient funds to cowl the remainder of this hurricane season.
These feedback drew criticism from Republican lawmakers, billionaire Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump as a result of FEMA has spent at the least lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on resettling migrants within the U.S. since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took workplace.
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“The Biden-Harris Administration’s self-inflicted border crisis has wasted American taxpayer dollars on services for illegal immigrants and is now struggling to help Americans suffering in the wake of natural disasters like Hurricane Helene,” Home Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., advised The Middle Sq. after it reported on the FEMA’s migrant spending.
FEMA is topic to DHS’ authority and underneath the Biden-Harris administration has been targeted on serving to the current inflow of greater than 14 million migrants settle within the U.S.
As The Middle Sq. beforehand reported, FEMA introduced $640 million in new funding for serving to migrants in April of this 12 months, $300 million for “direct funding” to assist immigrants, and $340 million for cities by way of grants to assist migrants, half of a bigger FEMA concentrate on resettling migrants within the U.S. underneath the Biden-Harris administration. These quantities don’t embody FEMA tax {dollars} spent on migrant relocations earlier in Biden’s time period.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have,” Mayorkas advised reporters earlier this week, including that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season” and that they count on one other hurricane to hit.
The FEMA money crunch for hurricane victims whereas FEMA has greater than sufficient for migrants turned a stark instance of controversial prioritization within the Biden-Harris administration, which continues to take fireplace for its dealing with of the border disaster.
The FEMA instance proved to have political utility amid the continued battle over unlawful immigration in an election 12 months.
“There’s nobody that’s handled a hurricane or storm worse than what they’re doing right now,” Trump mentioned at a rally Thursday.
“Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country,” Trump continued, exaggerating the determine.
The White home has strongly pushed again on Trump’s feedback, calling them “false” and arguing that the funding sources for migrants and catastrophe reduction come from separate sources.
Critics have argued it’s a drawback of mission drift at FEMA and prioritizing funding for migrants when catastrophe reduction funding is operating low, although Congress appropriates the funding within the first place.
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A White Home spokesperson advised The Middle Sq. that Hurricane Helene victims might be nicely taken care of and that there isn’t a hazard of operating out of funds to assist with this hurricane restoration.
“FEMA has what it needs for immediate response and recovery efforts,” mentioned Director of Public Affairs and FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg. “As FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has said, she has the full authority to spend against the President’s budget, but we’re not out of hurricane season yet so we need to keep a close eye on it. We may need to go back into immediate needs funding and we will be watching it closely.”
Critics on-line took situation with the $750 in emergency help for particular person Helene victims touted by Harris, arguing it isn’t sufficient when a lot cash goes elsewhere.
A White Home spokesperson advised The Middle Sq. that the $750 is simply instant help for victims and doesn’t imply they won’t obtain more cash to assist with injury to their houses and different customary emergency help.
Critics argued FEMA has grow to be distracted specializing in noncitizens due to the fallout of an unaddressed border disaster as a substitute of American citizen storm victims.
“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris must put Americans first and take action now to reverse their open borders policies that are bleeding Americans dry,” Comer advised The Middle Sq..
Syndicated with permission from The Middle Sq..
