Whistleblowers have come forward with allegations that the Federal Emergency Management Agency mismanaged funds and left first responders waiting in hotels for deployment orders to assist Americans in North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene.
The whistleblowers made the allegations to Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.), who wrote a letter to Department of Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Friday asking for more details about FEMA’s allocation of funds.
“My office has been in contact with whistleblowers in numerous emergency-management functions at the federal, state, and local levels, and they all point to the same critical mismanagement issues,” Gaetz’s letter reads.
“FEMA has wasted taxpayer funds, misappropriated funds, and left other federal, state, and local responders without deployment orders on the ground. As reported and further confirmed by my office, hundreds, if not thousands of service members were deployed by the Department of Defense to North Carolina and have sat idle, waiting for FEMA. We have confirmed FEMA employees deployed, on the clock, awaiting orders in hotels. FEMA pre-disaster aid was withheld, exacerbating the emergency,” the letter adds.
Gaetz asked Mayorkas a series of questions about whether FEMA is spending disaster relief money on illegal migrants and the portion of its overall budget going towards non-citizens. He is requesting that Mayorkas respond by October 11.
FEMA has faced scrutiny for its response to the devastation Hurricane Helene wrought across the southeastern U.S., especially in western North Carolina, where hundreds of people went missing and flooding leveled entire towns. Dozens are believed to be dead in North Carolina because of the hurricane damage and state and federal authorities have been mobilized to help people get back on their feet.
Conservatives have spotlighted FEMA’s funding for programs that provide humanitarian services for illegal immigrants, initiatives separate from its disaster relief funding. President Joe Biden’s slow response to the hurricane has also prompted fresh scrutiny on his age, 81, and declining mental faculties.
National Review has reached out to FEMA for comment.
The agency created a page on its website seeking to dispel purported falsehoods spreading about its actions in North Carolina and elsewhere. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund is specifically designated for disaster recovery efforts and the agency says it did not reallocate money from it to support immigration-related programs.
Mayorkas recently told reporters that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season” after Hurricane Helene left destruction in its wake. With congress out-of-session, it is unclear if lawmakers will return to Washington to give FEMA more emergency relief funding. For now, FEMA says it has enough funding for immediate relief and is urging Americans to apply for recovery assistance.
Billionaire X owner Elon Musk joined in on the FEMA criticism and accused the agency of preventing SpaceX engineers from delivering Starlink terminals to North Carolina residents in need of internet connection. He also posted text messages he received that describe how FEMA and the Federal Aviation Administration were allegedly shutting down airspace and preventing private helicopters from delivering aid.
“No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights. If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, replying to Musks’s X post with the text. The Department of Transportation is working with FEMA on disaster relief in southeastern states.
Buttigieg and Musk appear to have spoken over the phone after Musk continued badgering Buttigieg about the apparent airspace issue.