The administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Deanne Criswell, has criticized the false claim that the agency is short of money because of funds diverted to migrants.
Former President Donald Trump was among the Republicans touting the claim, saying at a rally in Michigan on Thursday that FEMA was out of money because “Kamala spent all her FEMA money—billions of dollars—on housing for illegal migrants.”
“It’s frankly ridiculous and just plain false,” Criswell told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos while discussing the claims being made about FEMA.
“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people. It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do,” she continued.
Stephanopoulos also mentioned Trump’s claim that Republican areas of the state were intentionally being ignored.
“We’ve had the complete support of the state. We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous, truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help,” Criswell said.
FEMA is experiencing a funding crunch as it deploys much of its resources and personnel toward relief after Hurricane Helene, which devastated the Southeast less than two weeks ago.
Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, discussing Hurricane Helene during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on September 26. She has criticized false rumors that the agency is short on money because of funds diverted to migrants.
SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on Wednesday that FEMA did not have enough money to make it through the hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.
However, this shortfall is not the result of money going to migrants.
About $1 billion has been given to the Shelter and Services Program, administered by FEMA in partnership with Customs and Border Protection, which offers financial support to groups that provide shelter and other services to “noncitizen migrants.”
While FEMA distributes the funds, they do not come from the agency’s budget. The program uses a funding pot that is not connected to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund of almost $20 billion.
FEMA has set up a dedicated fact-check page in response to the false rumors, and the agency has explicitly denied the claims.
“No money is being diverted from disaster response needs,” FEMA said on the page.
Newsweek has contacted FEMA for comment via email outside regular working hours.
In a memo released on Saturday, the White House said that false information could “discourage people from seeking critical assistance.”
It continued: “Unfortunately, as our response and recovery efforts continue, we have seen a large increase in false information circulating online related to the federal response to Hurricane Helene.
“A number of scam artists, bad-faith actors, and others who want to sow chaos because they think it helps their political interests are promoting disinformation about the recovery effort, including ways to access critical and live-saving resources. This is wrong, dangerous, and it must stop immediately.”
