FEMA Director Says He Will Review All Funding to NGOs Amid Agency Scrutiny

Members of the National Guard and a FEMA search and rescue team in a file photo. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

The acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said on Thursday that the disaster response agency will review grants and funding to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) amid the Trump administration’s calls to reform the agency.

The acting director, Cameron Hamilton, said in a post on social media platform X that the agency will look into agency funding for NGOs and that “survivors and communities impacted by disasters are and will continue to be our main priority.”

“Because we care deeply about survivors and their communities and because we want to be accountable to the American people, effectively immediately, we are implementing additional steps to fully review the entire slate of grants and funding that FEMA provides to NGOs,” Hamilton said in a video posted on X.

FEMA’s goal will “prioritize survivors and the communities impacted by the hardest hit disasters,” he added. “We are doing this because we want to be responsible with our dollars and deliver them to those in need.”

President Donald Trump has been critical of the agency and signaled earlier this week that it should be terminated outright for what he said was mismanaging disaster relief funds.

“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry,” Trump said in a Feb. 11 post on his Truth Social account, adding that FEMA “should be terminated.”

In recent months, FEMA has faced criticism from Republicans over how it handled disaster relief efforts following hurricanes Milton and Helene, which hit the southern United States in late 2024.

Trump last month signed an executive order that established an advisory council to review FEMA over having allegedly lost “mission focus,” diverting limited staff and resources to support missions beyond its scope and authority,“ and ”spending well over a billion dollars to welcome illegal aliens.”

Aside from Trump’s orders, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News in an interview that her agency will be canceling funding to NGOs that facilitate illegal immigration into the United States. The Trump administration also canceled grant funding to NGOs “used to facilitate illegal immigration,” she also confirmed.

Earlier this week, four FEMA employees were fired after being accused of circumventing leadership to make payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for illegal immigrants.

The terminated employees were FEMA’s chief financial officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist, according to a Homeland Security statement.

On Monday, Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, wrote on X that his team had discovered payments used to house illegal immigrants in “luxury hotels” with money intended for disaster relief. Musk blasted FEMA, which is part of Homeland Security, and called the payments “gross insubordination.”

Later, Hamilton said the payments were suspended, and the employees who authorized them would be held accountable.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security officials said on Wednesday that they clawed back more than $80 million from New York City after a federal judge said he wouldn’t stop FEMA from reclaiming the funds.

FEMA’s acting administrator said in court documents filed Tuesday that the money was being clawed back over concerns about “illegal activities” at a hotel.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander questioned whether the move was legal, saying he had never seen a case where someone was “authorized to come into your bank accounts and take it back because of shifting political winds.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.