How a FEMA Program Ballooned Into a Multimillion-Dollar Pipeline for Illegal Immigrants

The agency has dramatically increased funding to illegal immigrants’ needs, while critics say that money should go to U.S. citizens who need help.

Roxanne Brooks mounts an American flag to a stack of cinder blocks outside her friend's destroyed mobile home (R) in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 6, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program that paid $59 million to house illegal immigrants at a New York City hotel was originally established to help at-risk homeless people and the needy.

The payment was publicized as an example of government waste by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.

“That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels for illegals!” Musk stated in a Feb. 10 post on social media platform X, which he owns.

The Trump administration clawed back $80 million in FEMA funding from New York City after the DOGE discovery—prompting New York City Mayor Eric Adams to sue the federal government to recover the money.

President Donald Trump has been critical of FEMA’s response to the Hurricane Helene disaster in western North Carolina, which has struggled to recover. Meanwhile, FEMA has been paying out millions of dollars to help illegal immigrants.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to identify federally funded programs aiding illegal immigrants and take corrective action.

According to the CATO Institute, illegal immigrants aren’t generally getting government checks.

“The biggest myth in the debate over immigrant welfare use is that noncitizens—which includes illegal immigrants and those lawfully present on various temporary visas and green cards—disproportionately consume welfare,” a CATO article reads. “That is not the case. Noncitizen immigrants consumed 54 percent less welfare than native-born Americans.”

How FEMA got involved in helping illegal immigrants has to do with “mission creep,” according to Rep. Dale Strong (R-Ala.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology.

Strong said during a March 4 hearing on FEMA that the agency’s duties have expanded far beyond its original purpose—to include offsetting the costs of caring for noncitizens released into the U.S. interior, at first through the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian (EFSP-H), and, since 2023, the Shelter and Services Program (SSP).

The initial program was created in 1983 to “aid individuals and families who are, or are at risk of, experiencing hunger and/or homelessness” via grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations, according to the Congressional Research Service.

However, the money for EFSP and SSP disbursed toward aid for illegal immigrants has increased dramatically in recent years—from $30 million in fiscal 2019 to $650 million in fiscal 2024.

The funding is handled in a partnership between FEMA and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), both of which are part of the Department of Homeland Security.

CBP policy says the agency can hold illegal immigrants for only so long before releasing them into the country—so it relied on, and funded, nongovernmental organizations to feed, clothe, and shelter them as well as organize transportation to wherever their final destinations are.

“It’s only when you ignore the law and release these people that they become a burden [on local jurisdictions],” said Andrew Arthur, resident fellow in law and policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Immigration law dictates that illegal immigrants must be detained.

An army veteran attends a Stand Down event designed to help veterans who are homeless or housing insecure in Chicago on June 16, 2023. Scott Olson/Getty Images

CBP encountered nearly 11 million illegal immigrants during the Biden administration.

Mass migration meant the White House and Congress in 2021–2022 dramatically increased funding for illegal immigrants under FEMA, Arthur told The Epoch Times.

Arthur sounded the alarm on the changes at FEMA several years ago when he saw the program expand.

“Most Americans had no idea that hundreds of millions of their tax dollars were going to fund this,” he said. “With respect to putting people in high-end luxury hotels. You know, that’s not appropriate.”

Significant Funding Increases

FEMA’s involvement in aiding illegal immigrants created a storm of criticism when then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA was running out of money in October 2024, just after Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina.

That rankled Republicans, who said that FEMA had plenty of money for non-U.S. citizens.

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) in an Oct. 3, 2024, post on X, called it “outrageous” that the Biden administration could direct $1.4 billion through FEMA to house illegal immigrants “who should have never been in this country.”

In April 2024, FEMA earmarked $650 million to state and local governments to offset the costs of illegal immigrants flooding their communities.

Those funds added to the $780 million that FEMA awarded to affected communities in 2023 through SSP and EFSP for illegal immigrants.

Many states and cities dealing with a massive influx of illegal immigrants struggled financially to provide basic care. They argued that the federal government had a duty to offset the cost of providing for them.

Venezuelan citizens cross the Simon Bolivar International Bridge from San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela to Norte de Santander province of Colombia on Feb. 10, 2018. George Castellanos/AFP/Getty Images

In New York City, a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, more than 229,000 illegal immigrants have sought services since 2022. In August 2023, Adams appealed to the Biden administration for help as the city incurred billions of dollars in expenses.

Arthur said, “Honestly, if we didn’t have to care for so many migrants, we'd have more money that we could provide to homeless Americans.”

He said that although the pots of money in FEMA are separate, the DHS secretary has a lot of power to redirect money within the agency if needed—such as after Helene hit.

“You could always move money around if you needed it for western North Carolina,” Arthur said.