FEMA whistleblowers detail ‘waste’ of taxpayer funds and staff waiting in hotels during Hurricane Helene
FEMA withheld pre-disaster funding ahead of Hurricane Helene and has been painfully slow to order the deployment of first responders, multiple whistleblowers allege in a scathing new letter.
The allegations of mismanagement at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) come just days after the agency took a beating for its boss Alejandro Mayorkas, who admitted it would not be able to foot the bill for this historic hurricane season.
Now whistleblowers from FEMA, including state and local levels of emergency management, are telling Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that the department wasted and embezzled money in Helene’s aftermath, “exacerbating the emergency.”
Further, “hundreds, if not thousands” of first responders and military personnel have been left “without deployment orders,” with some waiting in hotels while others have been “idling” as Americans in the Southeast are in dire need, the whistleblowers allege.
An aerial view of flood damage caused by Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 3, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina. FEMA and other emergency management whistleblowers allege the organization wasted money, withheld aid before the disaster and was slow to deploy first responders and service members to assist with recovery efforts
“This news comes after FEMA spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on migrants because of Border Czar Kamala Harris’ open border, instead of prioritizing funding for Americans affected by disasters,” Gaetz wrote in a scathing letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Sec. Mayorkas on Friday.
“My office has interacted with whistleblowers in numerous emergency management roles at the federal, state and local levels, and they all point to the same critical issues of mismanagement.”
“FEMA has embezzled taxpayer funds and left other federal, state, and local responders on the ground without deployment orders,” wrote Gaetz, a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
With more than 200 Americans dead and the organization strapped for cash, FEMA’s massive budget for illegal immigrants has come under scrutiny as a possible way to provide relief to devastated American citizens.
Over the past two years, FEMA has distributed more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to specifically support illegal immigrants with housing.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., sent a letter to DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas (above) on Friday outlines allegations of mismanagement at FEMA by agency whistleblowers
But now there is no money to help the 150,000 U.S. citizens who requested federal assistance after their homes were damaged by Hurricane Helene.
“FEMA does not have the resources to get through the season,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas admitted Wednesday.
But last week, Congress passed a funding bill for another $20 billion for the expected hurricane season.
And the whistleblowers allege that despite receiving recent funding, the department has been slow and ineffective in its response to Hurricane Helene.
“As reported and further confirmed by my office, hundreds, if not thousands, of military personnel have been deployed to North Carolina by the Department of Defense and have been sitting idle, waiting for FEMA,” Gaetz wrote.
“We have confirmed that FEMA employees are on the clock waiting for orders at hotels. Pre-disaster FEMA assistance was cut off, exacerbating the emergency.”
The Republican demands to know how much money DHS and FEMA spend on non-citizens versus American citizens.
Migrants seeking asylum in the United States wait at the border of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on March 19, 2024
At least 200 people have died in six states in the wake of the powerful Category 4 hurricane.
This aerial photo taken on September 27, 2024 shows a flooded street after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Steinhatchee, Florida
Immigrants await processing at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after crossing the border from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on December 20, 2023
“What portion of FEMA’s total budget for FY 2024 can be guaranteed to have been spent solely on U.S. citizens, and what portion of the money has or could have been spent on noncitizens?” Gaetz asks.
“What portion of the money in the Disaster Relief Fund was spent on non-disaster relief programs in FY 2024, such as providing services to illegal aliens or providing routine training to FEMA employees authorized from general appropriations?”
He demanded answers from Mayorkas by October 11.