Federal tax dollars that could be supporting relief efforts in disaster-stricken parts of Appalachia were instead diverted resettle tens of millions of foreign nationals who illegally entered the United States during the Biden-Harris Administration—and some of Maine’s top politicians supported the diversion of funding.
Members of Maine’s congressional delegation Sens. Angus King (I), Susan Collins (R), and Rep. Chellie Pingree (D) last year advocated for the expansion of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program that diverted the disaster funding toward shelter and resettlement services for migrants, including asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal aliens.
The use of taxpayer dollars intended to help Americans suffering from natural disasters to shelter and feed foreign nationals who entered the country illegally has caused widespread outrage in the wake of Hurricane Helene and the lackluster federal relief effort.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas cried poverty, telling reporters that FEMA does not have enough funding to make it through the rest of hurricane season.
“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.”
Secretary Mayorkas’ comments came in the wake of widespread destruction and more than 200 fatalities in the southeastern U.S. caused by Hurricane Helene, the deadliest hurricane to strike the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005.
The comments immediately set off a firestorm on social media, with commenters flagging the hundreds of billions of dollars spent just in recent years on foreign aid, foreign wars, and progressive pet projects of the Biden-Harris administration.
“It is true that FEMA and the DHS have been spending billions of dollars on migrants,” said Sen Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in an interview with Meet the Press.
“This administration seems to have no problem finding money when they want to spend it on their priorities — when they need hundreds of billions of dollars to pay off student loans for graduate students in Gender Studies programs, they somehow find it,” said Cotton.
“When it’s trying to get helicopters to deliver food and water and cellular service and life-saving medicine into these mountain valleys, they somehow can’t find the money,” he said.
[RELATED: Mills Admin, Nonprofits, and Big Biz Back New Migrant Resettlement Agency for Maine…]
Republicans and conservatives particularly scrutinized Mayorkas and the DHS for allocating $640.9 million to a program used to assist state and local governments providing shelter and other services to noncitizen migrants.
“This is easy. Mayorkas and FEMA — immediately stop spending money on illegal immigration resettlement and redirect those funds to areas hit by the hurricane,” Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbot wrote in a post to X last week in response to Mayorkas’ comments.
“Put Americans first,” Abbot said.
Former Republican President Donald Trump has repeated similar criticisms of FEMA at campaign stops in recent days.
“They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season,” Trump told a crowd of supporters at a rally in Michigan last Thursday.
The Biden-Harris Administration even created a special website designed to spread the federal government’s spin on criticisms leveled against its misallocation of disaster relief funding.
On the Hurricane Helene “Rumor Response” website, FEMA denied that any FEMA disaster relief funds were diverted to assist with migrants or “border related issues.”
“No money is being diverted from disaster response needs. FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts,” FEMA wrote.
As Sen. Cotton noted in his Meet the Press interview, the FEMA money diverted for migrants was still intended for Americans suffering from disasters — it was simply drawn from a separate account, a fact that FEMA and its left-wing defenders believe exonerates DHS from criticism.
Since its creation in 2022, FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program (SSP) has administered more than $1.4 billion in grants to local governments and nonprofit organizations as part of an effort to alleviate the burden placed on municipalities by the influx of asylum-seeking migrants entering the U.S.
In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided a total of $640.9 million to the FEMA-administered migrant shelter program, and about $364 million in 2023.
As part of the tranche of $380 million in SSP grants from FEMA announced in August, the Portland-based nonprofit United Way of Southern Maine, which partners with Catholic Charities Maine to provide services to migrants, was awarded $5.4 million.
The City of Portland’s migrant resettlement program, which since 2020 has provided services to an estimated 4,200 migrants, was in large part funded by federal government’s SSP program.
Because the SPP funding is designed for migrants recently released from custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the eligibility period for the funds typically lasts 45 days from the release of a migrant by DHS.
In December 2023, U.S. Senators from Maine Angus King and Susan Collins, alongside Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, sent a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas urging for the eligibility period to be extended to 180 days.
[RELATED: King, Collins, Pingree Request DHS Rule Change to Help Fund Shelter and Services for Migrants…]
King, Collins and Pingree wrote in the letter that the 45-day limitation is “inappropriate for migrant destination locations like Maine.”
“Maine immigrant services groups struggle with the 45-day limitation because migrants arriving in the state have typically been released from DHS custody many days prior, reducing the period in which these individuals and families may receive support,” the members of Maine’s delegation wrote.
In remarks on the House floor this June, Rep. Pingree pushed for increased funding the FEMA migrant shelter program as a “common sense way to deal with the number of asylum seekers who want to come into our country today.”
“This funding is particularly important to one of the cities that I represent, the city of Portland, Maine,” Pingree said. “You know, we all talk about big cities like New York, and we all have all kinds of concerns about this, but let’s be clear: In my state, this funding is critically important to supporting our city, which has been very welcoming to asylum seekers.”
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Phony fricking Repub Susan Collins is no better than the Dirty Dems putting illegals over American citizens.
You can pound sand lady. You’re nothing but a swampy lizard.
I don’t know where these people think the money comes from .
Maine spends way to much on bullshit stuff * and far to little on things that would actually benefit the tax payers.
If this new and now typical “ reassessment revaluation” trend continue , there won’t be ANY people past the age of 65 because they can’t afford to stay after retirement . Good deal . Work your whole life in a miserable climate for modest wages ,and then be forced out of your home because of taxes .
VOTE NO ON THE UPCOMING REFERENDUM BOND ISSUES ….WE CANT AFFORD THEM .
We are almost a billion dollars short of our needs in 2026 – 27 isn’t that special !
* bullshit stuff : like changing the state flag so some friends can sell dumb flag tee shirts “ …..ANOTHER OBNOXIOUS WASTE OF OUR TAX MONEY
Liberal politicians will be the death of Maine!
That includes Collins!
The 4 Maine Bright Bulbs forget one thing the dollars you use are my tax dollars.
And I am not supporting my tax dollars going to supporting folks from away or US citizens!
I am not voting for that or those who push it.
The US government just gave 100 million to to FEMIA for hrricane relif and 156million to Lebonen.
FEMA’s, purpose and mandate needs to overhauled, directors fired and replaced
Maine needs to REMOVE these idiots from OUR government. Not one of them has done anything for Maine and ‘Real Mainers’.
This is why TERM LIMITS and a means for the ‘people’ to remove those who do not fulfill the needs/wishes of their constituents.
Until there are consequences for their actions Politicians of EVERY PARTY will continue to abuse the Citizens . And I am not referring to just getting voted out of office.
Pinhead is such a horse’s ass! Stop government funding of Mainers to sit on their asses instead of working and you won’t need to import asylees/refugees to sit on their asses and receive government funding for not working.
We have time and opportunity and a choice to make a change in our government go to your voting place, absentee ballot and vote out King and Pingree. Hopefully we will be able to vote out Collins next time. It is time to have people that represent us to do so with common sense, less chaos and most of all put Mainers, whom they are supposed to represent , and all Americans first.