Mayorkas Warns FEMA Lacks Funding for Hurricane Cleanup after Agency Spent over a Billion on Migrants

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has spent more than one billion dollars on services for illegal immigrants over the past year, now has insufficient funds to last through the hurricane season.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas told reporters. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

Hurricane Helene has ravaged the west coast of Florida and several states in the Southeast, flooding towns, destroying properties, and killing over 160 people. Florida’s Gulf Coast experienced record-breaking storm surge in some areas, with a wall of water many feet above the normal high tide line crashing onto the land. The Blue Ridge Mountains suffered major devastation, with at least 57 people dead in and around Asheville, North Carolina.

Congress recently provided $20 billion for FEMA’s disaster-relief fund as part of a short-term government spending bill to fund the government through mid-December.

The federal government is sending additional aid to North Carolina for its recovery effort, President Biden said in an emergency-operations briefing with Governor Roy Cooper on Wednesday. Biden said he has granted the state’s request for a 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures for six months.

“This will pay for the urgent work you need to clear landslides, to provide shelter, and to provide food and medicine,” Biden said.

More than 150,000 households have registered for FEMA aid and that number is expected to spike as the scale of the hurricane fallout is realized, Frank Matranga, an agency representative, told the Tampa Bay Times.

Biden and Kamala Harris, and FEMA as an extension of their administration, have been accused of not prioritizing the crisis, with many in west North Carolina still without water, food, or cell service. FEMA has stretched itself under the Biden administration to accommodate the needs of illegal aliens.

The Shelter and Services Program (SSP), administered by the FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), provides financial support to non-federal entities to provide humanitarian services to “noncitizen migrants.” Between FY2023 and FY2024, at least $1 billion has been funneled into the program, according to FEMA’s website. In just 2024, over $20 million went to the NYC Office of Management and Budget. 

New York City’s Department of Homeless Services has given $4,000 grants to 150 migrant families to help with the cost of transitioning from city shelters to permanent housing, according to a September report from Fox News. Eligible families can also receive up to $1,000 in gift cards for household necessities and moving expenses, according to the report. Speaking in Atlanta, Georgia Wednesday, Harris said FEMA is providing $750 in cash “for folks who need immediate needs being met” due to the storm.

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program, another FEMA-funded program, has also been repurposed into a fund for migrants via federal distributions to local social-service organizations. The funding allocated to the program has climbed dramatically over recent years, from $30 million in 2019 to $425 million in 2023. In 2023, many of the recipients included branches of the Catholic Charities in border states such as Texas. The nonprofit proudly offers humanitarian services to undocumented individuals in the country as one of its core missions.