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Biden's Billion: FEMA Funds for Friends?

FEMA's wallet wide open for border hoppers, not hurricane survivors—who knew?

Published October 9, 2024 at 9:47am by

Donald Trump

Statement: The Biden administration stole $1 billion “from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants. … And FEMA is now busted. They don’t have any money.”

As he arrived in Augusta, Georgia, to survey Hurricane Helene’s devastation, former President Donald Trump said the Biden-Harris administration’s spending on immigrants has left the Federal Emergency Management Agency broke.

"Well, for one thing, $1 billion was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants," Trump said Oct. 4. He added, "And FEMA is now busted. They don’t have any money."

He continued, "FEMA has not done the job, meaning the federal government, Kamala and Joe, have not done the job obviously. They have $1 billion, $1 billion with a 'B,' missing that's supposed to be used for hurricanes and things like that and they don't have any money."

Trump used his visit to the hurricane-ravaged battleground state as an opportunity to attack his opponent, Kamala Harris, and argue that she cares more about immigrants in the U.S. illegally than Americans.

He has repeated versions of that claim since Oct. 3.

  • "Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants, many of whom should not be in our country," he said at an Oct. 3 campaign rally in Saginaw, Michigan.
  • "We’re missing $1 billion that they gave to migrants coming into our country," he said in an Oct. 4 town hall in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
  • "The GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants," he wrote Oct. 7 on Truth Social. He added: "NORTH CAROLINA HAS BEEN VIRTUALLY ABANDONED BY KAMALA!!!"

Here are the facts: Current FEMA funding for migrants does not come at disaster relief’s expense. Neither of FEMA’s two programs for migrants uses money from the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is primarily used after natural disasters. Congress funds the migrant and disaster relief programs separately. And Trump’s administration, not Biden’s, shifted FEMA funding — including money from the Disaster Relief Fund — to address immigration.

When contacted for comment, the Trump campaign pointed to spending by FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, which gives money to state and local governments and nonprofit organizations that provide migrants with temporary shelter, food and transportation. Trump arrived at the $1 billion figure by combining the fiscal year 2023 and 2024 budgets for the Shelter and Services Program.

"FEMA has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the transportation and shelter of illegal immigrants," Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

That’s different from Trump’s claims, which distort the facts.

FEMA’s rumor response website says no money from the Disaster Relief Fund was diverted for immigration. The White House issued a similar statement.

No money ‘stolen’ at FEMA, agency not out of money

It’s inaccurate to describe the $1 billion as "stolen," said Joshua Sewell, a federal budget expert at the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Congress — not the president — decides how much money government programs receive. The Biden-Harris administration requested the money from Congress, and Congress granted it to FEMA for the Shelter and Services program.

"It’s definitely not stealing," Sewell said. "It is in an appropriations bill."

FEMA is expected to face a deficit during the current fiscal year that started Oct. 1, but the agency is not out of money. And Congress can set aside more money, as it has done nearly every year since 2017, Sewell said.

Two FEMA programs have supported immigrants, neither takes money from hurricane relief

Directing federal money to help states and cities handle immigrant influxes didn’t start with the Biden-Harris administration. With Congress deadlocked for decades over immigration bills, state and local politicians in red and blue areas have demanded that the federal government step up and provide money to help provide basic services to new immigrants.

Starting in 2019, as illegal immigration ticked up during Trump’s administration, Congress gave FEMA funding to expand its Emergency Food and Shelter Program, which previously had been used only for people facing homelessness and hunger, to include migrant support services. FEMA gave federal money to local and state governments and nonprofit organizations that provide services to immigrants whom officials have released into the U.S. to await court proceedings.

Neither that program nor the one that replaced it was, or is, funded with money promised to FEMA’s disaster relief work. And the Biden administration didn’t transfer money from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund to either program, the White House said in an Oct. 5 memo.

Sewell reiterated this point: "The Disaster Relief Fund has nothing to do with any migrant assistance account because all that spending is from separate funds."

In 2023, Congress directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection and FEMA to create the Shelter and Services Program for migrants, removing immigration grants from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program. The Shelter and Services Program uses money Congress has given Customs and Border Protection, and is administered by FEMA.

In fiscal year 2024, which started October 2023 and ended September 2024, Congress directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection to give FEMA $650 million for the Shelter and Services Program. From fiscal years 2021 to 2024, Congress has set aside about $1.5 billion combined for both the Shelter and Services and Emergency Food and Shelter programs. The money is used for food, shelter and medical care.

Mayorkas: FEMA can meet immediate needs but will need more funding

Statements from Trump and other Republicans saying FEMA is out of money stem from Oct. 2 comments to journalists by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as he traveled to South Carolina to survey devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.

But Mayorkas didn’t say FEMA was out of money.

When a reporter asked Mayorkas about FEMA funding, he said, "We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the (hurricane) season," which lasts from June through November.

Mayorkas said the Biden-Harris administration has requested additional funding from Congress.

Congress has approved extra money for FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund nearly every year since 2017, totaling nearly $170 billion, Sewell said. This money is on top of the $100 billion Congress has set aside in annual legislation.

On Sept. 26, Congress added $20 billion to the disaster fund as part of a stopgap bill to fund the government through Dec. 20.

Even before Hurricane Helene made landfall, the Disaster Relief Fund was headed toward a deficit. A mid-September report FEMA published before Hurricane Helene projected a deficit starting in February 2025. That was also before Hurricane Milton.

Trump administration moved FEMA funding to immigration efforts

When Trump was president, his administration shifted FEMA funding, including money from the Disaster Relief Fund, to address immigration.

In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was "reprogramming" some funds Congress had set aside.The department said it would transfer $271 million to immigration efforts. That included about $155 million from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund base budget.

PolitiFact found in 2019 that the funding shift would not deplete FEMA’s available funding for disaster-hit areas; the federal government has a process to provide disaster relief. But we wrote it could have some effect, depending on the storm season’s severity.

PolitiFact's ruling

Trump said "$1 billion was stolen from FEMA to use it for illegal migrants. … And FEMA is now busted. They don’t have any money."

This is a gross mischaracterization.

The Biden-Harris administration did not "steal" money from FEMA. Congress — not the president — decides how much money government programs receive.

Congress approved FEMA funding to give grants to state and local governments and nonprofit organizations for immigrant services. The program’s funding comes from Customs and Border Protection, and is separate from FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund that’s used to respond to natural disasters.

The money for immigrants does not come at storm victims’ expense. The federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on hurricane recovery and will continue to do so.

Furthermore, FEMA is not out of money. The agency’s Disaster Relief Fund is expected to face a deficit, but that’s unrelated to the program for immigrants. Congress can step in and provide more funding for FEMA, as it has done nearly every year since 2017.

We rate this statement Pants on Fire!

Our sources

Read more: Trump's claim that Biden stole $1 billion from FEMA for migrants is Pants on Fire