Former President Donald Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is bankrupt as a result of the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration expenditures as he landed in Augusta, Georgia, to assess the damage caused by Hurricane Helene.
“Well, for one thing, $1 billion was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants,”
Trump stated on October 4.
“And FEMA is now busted,”
he continued.
“They are impoverished.”
He went on,
“Clearly, Joe, Kamala, and the federal government have not completed the task assigned to them by FEMA. They lack funds and have $1 billion that’s $1 billion with a “B” missing that is meant to be utilized for storms and other emergencies.”
Impact on FEMA’s disaster relief capabilities
Trump took use of his trip to the hurricane-ravaged battleground state to disparage Kamala Harris, his opponent, and claim that she is more concerned with undocumented immigrants than American citizens. Since October 3, he has made this assertion many times: At a campaign event in Saginaw, Michigan on October 3, he declared,
“Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom shouldn’t be in our country.”
“They gave $1 billion to migrants coming into our country, and we’re missing it,”
he declared during a town hall in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 4.
“The GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants,”
he said on Truth Social on Oct. 7.
He continued:
“North Carolina has been virtually abandoned by Kamala!!!”
The current FEMA cash allocated to migrants does not come at the price of disaster assistance. The funds from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is mostly utilized during natural disasters, are not used in any of the agency’s two programs for migrants. The disaster assistance and immigration programs are funded independently by Congress. Furthermore, FEMA funding, including funds from the Disaster Relief Fund, was redirected to handle immigration by the Trump administration rather than by Biden.
Reactions from political leaders and public figures
When approached for a response, the Trump campaign cited funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program, which provides funding to state, municipal, and nonprofit groups that offer food, temporary housing, and transportation to migrants. Trump combined funding for the Shelter and Services Program for the fiscal years 2023 and 2024 to get at the $1 billion total. Karoline Leavitt, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said that “FEMA has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the transportation and shelter of illegal immigrants.” According to FEMA’s rumor response webpage, no funds were taken out of the Disaster Relief Fund to fund immigration. There was a similar remark from the White House. The $1 billion was not “stolen,” according to Joshua Sewell, a federal budget specialist with the nonpartisan organization Taxpayers for Common Sense. The president does not set the budget for government programs; Congress does. The funds for the Shelter and Services program were approved by Congress in response to a request by the Biden-Harris administration.
Biden administration’s response to the accusations
Sewell declared,
“It’s not stealing.”
“It is in an appropriations bill.”
Although there is anticipated to be a deficit in the current fiscal year, which began on October 1, FEMA does not currently lack funding. Additionally, Congress may increase funding, as it has done almost every year since 2017, according to Sewell. The Biden-Harris administration was not the first to allocate federal funds to assist states and localities in managing mass immigration. Since Congress has been unable to agree on immigration legislation for decades, legislators from both red and blue states have urged that the federal government intervene and give funding to assist in supplying new immigrants with basic services.
| Facts | Details |
| Summary of the Charge | The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reportedly diverted $1 billion under the Biden administration to aid with immigration-related initiatives. |
| Information Regarding the Said Fund Transfer | The claim’s specifics and origins are at the center of a political spat, with detractors claiming the money was misappropriated. |
| Effect on the Capabilities of FEMA | Disaster planning, response, and recovery are under the purview of FEMA, whose financing is essential for immediate relief operations. |
| Political Figures’ Reactions | The Biden administration, which places a strong emphasis on legal compliance and humanitarian requirements, has either refuted these allegations or explained any financial reallocations. |
| Context of Law and Policy | FEMA money has occasionally been used for emergency purposes by previous administrations, including non-disaster-related expenses. |
Analysis of the financial implications for FEMA
Congress provided FEMA the cash to expand its Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which had previously only been used for persons experiencing homelessness and hunger, to include migrant assistance services starting in 2019, as illegal immigration increased during Trump’s presidency. Federal funds were provided by FEMA to charitable groups, municipal and state governments, and immigration officials who have released immigrants into the United States as they await court procedures.
