House Republicans are demanding President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s administration make public details about the resources, funding, and time going toward Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs for migrants.
The House Homeland Security Committee, led by Rep. Mark Green (R-TN), is probing reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is prioritizing newly arrived migrants over Americans impacted by natural disasters like Hurricane Helene.
A letter from the committee’s Republican majority to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demands all internal communications regarding FEMA programs for migrants and the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund.
“FEMA operates the Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), the federal government’s primary fund for disaster relief activities. Throughout the Biden-Harris administration, Congress consistently met or exceeded, through supplemental appropriations, the President’s budget requests for disaster relief,” the Republicans write:
In fiscal year (FY) 2023 and FY2024, Congress appropriated approximately $61.2 billion for the DRF through a combination of both annual and supplemental appropriations. The Committee, however, is troubled that the Department and FEMA may not have properly apprised Congress of its need for additional disaster relief funds while simultaneously requesting large sums of monies to fund FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program (SSP), a grant program to fund nonfederal entities for shelter and services provided to migrants encountered by the Department, including illegal aliens. [Emphasis added]
In FY2023, Congress authorized the SSP to replace FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian Relief (EFSP-H). Prior to FY2023, FEMA never received more than $150 million to fund migrant services, but in FY2023 and FY2024 FEMA disbursed more than $1.4 billion through grants to states and localities to pay for migrant sheltering and services. In FY2024, FEMA awarded at least $300 million in SSP grants through noncompetitive processes, despite a March 2023 Department of Homeland Security Inspector General (DHS OIG) report finding that “FEMA did not provide sufficient oversight” of how these funds were used under the EFSP-H program. Meanwhile, $344 million, an only slightly greater amount, has been spent on federal assistance for the communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.
[Emphasis added]
The Republicans write that FEMA’s funding for migrants should come second, if at all, to the billions in damages to Americans across 16 states following Hurricane Helene
“Hurricane Helene caused up to $47.5 billion in damages to Americans across 16 states … the Department’s priorities for limited resources provided by taxpayers to the Department should first and foremost serve Americans,” the Republicans write.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
