No, Biden Didn't Use FEMA Money on Migrants, But Trump Did

Friday, October 04, 2024

[W]hen he was president, [Trump] did exactly what he claims Biden did " take money from FEMA's disaster fund to fund migrant programs at the southern border. ... In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico.

Posted by tonyroma at 06:09 PM | 21 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

Trump has been trying to weaponize the Hurricane Helene relief efforts, accusing the Biden administration of failing to provide adequate assistance. As part of his critique, he claims that there is no money available for hurricane relief because it was spent already to handle the surge of migrants at the southern border.

Trump's claims have been echoed by his supporters, such as billionaire Elon Musk. But Trump is completely wrong.

Even though Trump was once president, he still appears to have little clue about the appropriations process. What's even richer is that when he was president, he did exactly what he claims Biden did - take money from FEMA's disaster fund to fund migrant programs at the southern border.

Trump has a habit of assuming other politicians act in the same way as he would. So we wondered why he would accuse Biden of raiding the FEMA disaster fund to handle undocumented migrants.

It turns out that's because he did this! In 2019, the Trump administration, in the middle of hurricane season, told Congress that it was taking $271 million from DHS programs, including $155 million from the disaster fund, to pay for immigration detention space and temporary hearing locations for asylum seekers who have been forced to wait in Mexico. "The U.S. is facing a security and humanitarian crisis on the Southern border," the administration said in its notice that it was redirecting the funds.

The monthly reports issued by the FEMA disaster fund show $38 million was plucked and given to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August that year - just before the prime storm period of September and October.

I'm so tired of this ish, I can't wait for November 5th to come and go. Yet again, projection is Donald Trump's best friend as he tries to falsely accuse and blame the Biden Administration for exactly what he did in 2019 - take money from FEMA and spend it on immigrants at the southern border.

Quelle surprise.

#1 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-10-04 03:01 PM

Two observations:

Since FEMA is assigned money for non-US citizens, are we acknowledging that the border is a Federal Emergency?

Since FEMA spent just 1B on non-US citizens, where does the rest of the 150B / 451B come from?

homeland.house.gov
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) released figures in May 2023 calculating the
financial impact of the crisis for cities and states across the country, finding that the annual cost
just to care for and house the known gotaways and illegal aliens who have been released into the
country under Mayorkas' leadership could cost as much as an astounding $451 billion

Another key comprehensive study is published by the Federation for American Immigration
Reform (FAIR). The group's 2023 report found that illegal immigration's annual net burden on
the U.S. economy as of 2022 totaled more than $150 billion.2 In particular, researchers found that
illegal immigration imposes around $182 billion in federal, state, and local costs, while illegal
aliens pay approximately $31 billion in total tax contributions.3 The federal government is
responsible for more than $66 billion in expenditures, an increase of 45 percent from 2017, while
the states foot the bill for more than $115 billion in additional spending on illegal aliens, a 30-
percent increase from 2017.