Photo: Alamy
The Trump campaign says the Biden-Harris administration’s border crisis is putting the nation’s hurricane response efforts in jeopardy.
President Donald Trump’s campaign released the Wednesday statement noting recent concerns related to FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as several states in the Southeast continue rescue and recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene.
“FEMA has run out of money for the rest of hurricane season because Kamala Harris used the funds for free giveaways to illegal immigrants,” Trump Campaign National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote.
“This is inexcusable and yet another example of Kamala Harris putting Americans LAST!” she added.
The statement noted a Wednesday headline from the Associated Press that read “Mayorkas warns FEMA doesn’t have enough funding to last through hurricane season.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas shared the concerns with reporters in his discussion of the agency’s response to storms that have killed at least 160 people in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”
The Trump campaign statement also cited a report from The New York Post in July that revealed the FEMA program increase for migrants from $360 million to $650 million.
Atlanta will receive $10.89 million from FEMA in 2024 for migrant services, an increase from $4.85 million in 2023. A total of 14 states and Washington, D.C., received FEMA funds for migrant services in 2023.
At least 12 million migrants have crossed the southern border under the Biden-Harris administration. The official number does not include gotaways, with some estimates of 20 million or more migrants entering the U.S. under the current administration.
The FEMA funding for migrants is a new source of concern for many Americans now in need of disaster relief assistance as storms and flooding wrecked large portions of the South, especially North Carolina, where most of the storm’s deaths occurred and many people are still unaccounted for.
Trump visited Valdosta, Georgia, shortly after the storms, where he helped launch a GoFundMe fundraiser that has raised over $4.3 million.
Top donors have included former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, UFC President Dana White and musical artist Kid Rock.