White House denies FEMA funds being diverted to 'non-citizen migrants,' blames congressional GOP for lack of funding

The White House on Friday denied reports that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds were diverted to "non-citizen migrants" under the Biden-Harris administration, instead blaming Congressional Republicans for the lack of funding.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the reports of $641 million being diverted to assist with shelter services for migrants by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, was "categorically false."

"It is not true, it is a false statement, and look, the fact of the matter is, I think Washington Post fact-checker did a piece, and the headline recently, just moments ago, not too long ago, and the headline was 'No, Biden didn’t take FEMA relief money to use on migrants — but Trump did." The piece states that Congress appropriated $650 million for FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program in fiscal year 2024, and that "There’s no evidence that any money from the disaster fund was used to help migrants."

The reporter asked, "Secretary Mayorkas had said earlier this week that he was concerned that FEMA didn't have enough funding end for the rest of the hurricane season. Now that President Biden the damage in the Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, heard him say at the podium may have to call Congress back from recess. What exactly is he waiting for to make that call?"

"Look, here’s the thing. We put forth, a pretty substantial, robust — I mentioned this moments ago, to be part of the CR. We were disappointed that it was not part of the CR, and if congressional Republicans were serious, they were really, truly serious, about doing something for the communities that was impacted by Hurricane Helene, they would join us in calling for additional funding.”

"This is what we've been doing. And so if they're serious, they would get to work and get that done, just like with the border,” Jean-Pierre added. “If they were serious about the border, they wouldn't vote against their own bipartisan proposal that they worked with us on. They're against it now, they weren’t."

Mayorkas told reporters earlier this week, "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 season." Funds in FEMA's Shelter and Services Program were allocated to a number of different shelters for non-citizen migrants in the cities of Denver, Colorado; Washington DC; Chicago, Illinois; Suffolk County, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Diego, California and many others.