Mayorkas depletes FEMA aid on housing, food, medical care for migrants
Haitians get housing while Americans suffer from Hurricane Helene
Hurricane Helene is already one of the most fatal and costliest storms in American history. Entire communities have been leveled and wiped away. Millions were left without power, and hundreds are still missing. More than 160 Americans are now dead from the storm, the first hurricane to claim that many lives since 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. And according to a just-published study on excess storm deaths, the real death toll could even be in the thousands.
But don’t expect the federal government to provide any additional relief aside from what little it already has disbursed. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), announced today that the agency will run out of money before the end of the hurricane season.
“We are expecting another hurricane hitting — we do not have the funds, FEMA does not have the funds, to make it through the season” — DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
Maybe that’s because Mayorkas has spent over $1 billion in FEMA funds to house, transport, feed, and provide medical care for the millions of migrants he and President Biden have allowed into the country.
FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program (SSP) awards federal grants to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and state and local governments to “provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants following their release from the Department of Homeland Security.”
According to FEMA, funds can be used for shelter, housekeeping, beds, linens, food, cookware, utensils, transportation, acute medical care, over-the-counter medication, personal hygiene supplies, feminine hygiene products, baby wipes and diapers, clothing, and translation services. Organizations that receive SSP funding can also use aid money for labor costs of their own staff, renovations for their own facilities, and management and administrative costs.
The SSP program awarded NGOs and local governments over $360 million in fiscal year 2023 and $650 million in fiscal year 2024. The award recipients, which includes a number of supposedly Christian organizations like Catholic Charities, can be viewed here.
In other words, what Mayorkas really said when he announced FEMA was running out of money was, ‘sorry Americans! You may just have to deal with hurricanes on your own. We ran out of your money caring for immigrants.’
By giving away millions of dollars to care for migrants, the Biden administration is of course incentivizing these local governments and NGOs to take even more migrants in. These groups are directly profiting off the immigration crisis.
In New York City, hotels also stand to benefit. Over the last two years, FEMA has awarded the NYC Office of Management and Budget over $180 million. According to the New York Post, at least 15% of those funds are for hotel reimbursements. That’s separate from the $987 million housing contract DHS awarded to the Hotel Association of New York, a trade association representing over 300 hotels in New York City.
So when these organizations call for “more compassion” to solve the immigration crisis, what they are really calling for is a way to make more money. They’re on the gravy train and American taxpayers are footing the bill.
Meanwhile, the response to Hurricane Helene has been pathetic
For a federal government that has been quick to house, relocate, and care for millions of migrants and send billions of dollars supporting overseas wars in Israel and Ukraine (which received another $2.4 billion from the U.S. just last week), the response to Helene has been pathetic.
Just a few days ago, President Biden said “we’ve given [Hurricane Helene victims] all—everything that we have,” implying there was no more to give. When a reporter followed up by asking if there were any more resources the federal government could be giving, Biden replied “no.”
Though FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell claimed yesterday there were 1,200 federal workers on the ground, local residents are already criticizing the federal government’s lack of preparedness. Avril Pinder, a county manager in one of the hardest hit North Carolina counties, said her community isn’t receiving enough water.
“We’ve been asking for water, and we’re just getting water, and it’s still in low quantities,” Pinder told NBC News. “There’s a large need in our community, and we would like to see a different response from our state partners, a better response from our state partners,” which, according to NBC News, works with FEMA to fulfill those requests.
Pinder isn’t the only official claiming that supplies are missing, or at least, unaccounted for. Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards said state officials have been unable to tell him where FEMA supplies have been distributed. His staff told NBC News that the state “hasn’t been able to find out where [supplies] are going or when.”
When asked by NBC News why water wasn’t getting to those worst-affected communities, Criswell responded with a non-answer and claimed that the agency was “sending as many resources” as were being asked for.
Shameless disdain
The disdain the U.S. government shows for its own citizens is becoming more shameless and blatant under Biden’s presidency. The media are, as usual, covering for and amplifying this despicable behavior.
Just last night for example, Jeb Bush’s former communications director said the “grossest line” of the vice-presidential debate was when Ohio Senator J.D. Vance said “the people I care most about in Springfield are the American citizens.”
Apparently among the parasitic and corrupt Washington D.C. consultant class, caring about American citizens is now a gross idea.
The question is, how long will the average American go on before they truly realize what is happening and what their own government thinks of them?