Trump’s False Claim of Stolen Disaster Relief Funds

In an Oct. 7 post on its web site, the Trump campaign, mentioning that program, stated that the White Residence and the media “have actually repeatedly claimed that FEMA money is being utilized for illegal aliens.” The blog post included a link to video clips of a CNN press reporter and White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre chatting inSeptember 2022 about the schedule of federal EFSP funds to aid sustain local governments that were taking care of an influx of travelers.

In feedback, Mayorkas stated: “We are satisfying the immediate demands with the money that we have. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what is unavoidable.”

In August that year, which was throughout cyclone period, the Associated Press reported that DHS introduced that it “would certainly move $155 million to create short-term centers along the U.S.-Mexico border for holding hearings with the objective of relocating asylum situations with the system faster.”

Funding for the Emergency Food and Sanctuary Program was provided by FEMA, that cash also was appropriated by Congress different from funding for catastrophe relief. Additionally, “Congress passed the very first financing action for EFSP assistance particularly for migrant assistance … in 2019,” when Trump was head of state, the CRS stated in a 2023 report.

“As Secretary Mayorkas said, FEMA has the required resources to satisfy the instant demands related to Cyclone Helene and other calamities,” a DHS speaker has claimed in a statementtoreporters. “The Shelter and Provider Program (SSP) is a totally different, appropriated grant program that was authorized and moneyed by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or moneying streams.”

Trump began making the false financing claims after Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Division of Homeland Protection, advised that FEMA, a DHS company, might not have sufficient cash to last for the rest of the storm season, which began June 1 and goes till Nov. 30.

“This is incorrect,” FEMA composed on its “report action” page on Oct. 3. “No cash is being drawn away from disaster feedback demands. FEMA’s catastrophe reaction efforts and individual assistance is moneyed through the Catastrophe Alleviation Fund, which is a committed fund for catastrophe initiatives. Calamity Alleviation Fund money has not been diverted to various other, non-disaster associated efforts.”

“Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of bucks, on real estate for prohibited travelers, several of whom need to not be in our country.”

He took place to say that the firm has money for “the instant requirements today,” as a result of a continuing budget plan resolution, “but that is not a secure resource of supply, if you will.” He stressed that this will certainly be “a multibillion-dollar, multiyear healing.”

As Mayorkas stated, the federal government is currently operating on a proceeding budget plan resolution due to the fact that Congress has not passed appropriations bills for DHS and various other government divisions for fiscal year 2025, which began Oct. 1. The stop-gap financing expense, which Biden checked in September, funds the federal government with Dec. 20.

The Shelter and Solutions Program was developed by Congress in 2023 especially to make payments to “nonfederal entities that provide shelter and various other eligible solutions to travelers run into by and launched from DHS wardship,” as a Congressional Research study Service record published that year discussed. Congress licensed concerning $364 million for the program for 2023, and raised the program’s appropriation to $650 million for 2024.

The Federal Emergency situation Management Agency claimed that no funds meant for disaster alleviation have been made use of to spend for programs that respond to prohibited immigration. But previous President Donald Trump has actually incorrectly claimed that the Biden management “stole” cash for typhoon healing and invested it on housing for individuals in the U.S. unlawfully.

In reaction, Mayorkas said: “We are satisfying the immediate requirements with the money that we have. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it with the period and what is imminent.”

While the proceeding resolution consisted of concerning $20 billion for calamity relief, E&E Information reported that a FEMA financial report suggested that money may only last until January. When Congress passed the substitute measure last month, lawmakers chose not to include any added funding for typhoon alleviation.

Also after FEMA and newsorganizations had actually corrected Trump’s false information, he continued to make comparable cases in public looks. For instance, in an Oct. 4 town hall in North Carolina, one of the hardest struck states, Trump stated that the federal government can not aid residents there due to the fact that “we’re missing a billion dollars they gave … to the travelers that can be found in and currently we do not have the money.”

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As FEMA has actually stated, that cash was not rerouted from FEMA’s Catastrophe Relief Fund, which is moneyed by Congress separately. For fiscal year 2024, which finished Sept. 30, the Calamity Alleviation Fund had almost $57 billion in overall budget sources, including regarding $20 billion in preliminary appropriations from Congress and greater than $25 billion in supplementary appropriations.

On its page replying to reports concerning typhoon alleviation, FEMA claims, “If you were impacted by Helene, do not hesitate to get disaster aid as there is a variety helpful readily available for different needs.”

After Mayorkas made his statements, Trump andother criticsbegan to concentrate on federal funding for the department’s Sanctuary and Services Program, declaring that money for the grant program was taken from the budget for responding to natural calamities. Some who made the case got the unreliable information from an Oct. 1 Federalist tale that misleadingly said: “The Biden-Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had actually been alloted to the company in charge of American disaster relief and utilized it to provide services for illegal immigrants.”

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He took place to claim in his comments that the management was not able to give storm relief to afflicted states and homeowners due to the fact that they “stole the FEMA cash, just like they took it from a bank, so they might offer it to their illegal aliens that they intend to have vote for them this period.”

FEMA’s disaster reaction efforts and individual aid is funded through the Catastrophe Relief Fund, which is a specialized fund for disaster initiatives. Catastrophe Relief Fund money has not been diverted to various other, non-disaster relevant efforts.”