Amid catastrophic North Carolina flooding when Vice President Kamala Harris has offered devastated Hurricane Helene victims $750 emergency payments and a $100 million package to support the state, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has warned that his $640.9 million FEMA storm relief budget is now just about tapped out for the rest of this season.
"We are expecting another hurricane hitting," he added. "We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what — what is imminent."
So far, a relatively paltry $4 million has been paid directly to families and individuals in the week since Hurricane Helene ravaged the Southeast, killing more than 200 people and causing severe flooding damage.
This being the case, legitimate questions arise how his organization has managed to provide the reported $1.4 billion in FEMA funds spent addressing the migrant crisis over the last two years.
Former President Trump responded at a Pennsylvania campaign rally last Saturday, "Think of it … We give foreign countries hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re handing North Carolina $750."
Although Biden-Harris administration defenders are quick to point out that DHS’s FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments in coping with illegal southern border crossers comes from a separate congressionally authorized account, in short, it all originates from citizen taxpayers who fully deserve top priority.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted in response to the DHS chief, "This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane. Put Americans first."
"Yeah!" agreed Elon Musk.
Nevertheless, when a reporter asked about White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about Trump’s accusations regarding FEMA funding for illegal migrants last Friday, she flatly denied that FEMA resources were going to migrants, saying, "I mean, it’s just categorically false. It is not true. It is a false statement."
This directly conflicts with her response during a Sept. 16, 2022, press conference when asked about FEMA’s assistance to cities in handling the busloads of migrants being sent across the country from Texas, when Jean-Pierre explicitly pointed out that FEMA resources were, in fact available to illegal immigrants.
She explained, "FEMA Regional Administrators have been meeting with city officials on site to coordinate — to coordinate available federal support from FEMA and other federal agencies," adding, "Funding is also available through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter program to eligible local governments and not-for-profit organizations upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants."
Overall, in 2022, Congress appropriated $18.8 billion in annual funding for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, the primary funding for domestic disaster relief programs, and has appropriated roughly $20 billion each year thereafter.
The money was signed into law by Biden to provide housing and services for illegals who have flooded into the U.S. in record numbers under Biden-Harris administration open border policies.
Of this, DHS allocated $780 million for the migrant crisis last year initially through the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which funds relief not associated with natural disasters, and then through the new FEMA Shelter and Services Program, which was authorized in late 2022 by Congress to respond to the migrant crisis.
Last year $156 million has been allocated to New York City alone by the federal government for the ongoing migrant crisis — currently costing around $388 per day to house and care for a single household.
New York City migrants are issued free debit cards loaded with an average of $12.52 per person, per day for 28 days, costs which add up rapidly with the arrival of nearly 100,000 last year (now more than 180,000) and more than 64,000 asylum seekers remaining in the city's care as of October 2024.
Last week, the House of Representatives and the Senate approved a continuing resolution, which extends FEMA funding through December 20 and permits the agency to access those funds more quickly.
Meanwhile — also last week — Vice President Harris announced $157 million in U.S. foreign humanitarian support such as food and shelter for Lebanon, writing on X, "The people of Lebanon are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation. I am concerned about the security and well-being of civilians suffering in Lebanon and will continue working to help meet the needs of all civilians there."
"This additional support brings total U.S. assistance to Lebanon over the last year to over $385 million," she added.
Also, according to the Assciated Press (AP), the U.S. has provided almost $60 billion in aid elsewhere, whereas the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan agency, claims that such aid is even higher.
President Biden announced an additional $2.4 billion assistance package for Ukraine on Sept. 26.
Going forward, let's hope our nation's leadership understands that it's our citizens who sometimes need the most help, first.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.
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