Whistleblowers Blow the Lid on FEMA: Pre-Disaster Funds Allegedly Withheld and First Responders Left in Limbo Without Orders Before Hurricane Helene Strikes
Multiple whistleblowers have come forward to expose the mismanagement at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) just as Hurricane Helene devastates the southeastern U.S.
According to a letter from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), whistleblowers allege that FEMA withheld critical pre-disaster funds and failed to issue deployment orders to first responders, leaving Americans stranded in the wake of the storm.
In a bombshell letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) outlined a litany of complaints from whistleblowers across federal, state, and local emergency management agencies.
According to these whistleblowers, FEMA’s failure to release necessary funds and provide clear orders has left “hundreds if not thousands” of service members and first responders in limbo, as they sit idle in hotels while the southeastern U.S. suffers the devastating effects of Helene, according to the Daily Mail.
The allegations come as FEMA’s credibility continues to crumble under mounting evidence of gross mismanagement. This follows Mayorkas’s admission that FEMA “does not have enough funds to make it through the hurricane season.”
How is this possible, given that Congress just approved a $20 billion emergency package for FEMA? The whistleblowers claim the agency is diverting resources to other priorities—specifically, providing aid to illegal immigrants and using taxpayer dollars to cover the costs of border enforcement failures.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that over $1 billion, which should have been used for American disaster relief, has instead been redirected into resettling illegal immigrants through programs like the “Shelter and Services Program.”
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Gaetz did not mince words in his letter to Mayorkas:
“Yesterday, you stated that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is a part of your department, "does not have enough funds to make it through the hurricane] season."
This news comes after FEMA has spent hundreds of millions of raspayer dollars on migrants due to Border Czar Kamala Harris' open border instead of prioritizing funding for Americans impacted by disasters.
My office has been in contact with whistleblowers in numerous emergency-management functions at the federal, state, and local levels, and they all point to the same critical mismanagement issues. FEMA has wasted taxpayer funds, misappropriated funds, and left orher federal, srate, and local responders withour deployment orders on the ground.
As reported and further confirmed by my office, hundreds, if not thousands of service members were deployed by the Department of Defense to North Carolina and have sat idle, waiting for FEMA.
We have confirmed FEMA employees deployed, on the clock, awaiting orders in hotels. FEMA pre-disaster aid was withheld, exacerbating the emergency. It is also public that NGOs have purchased airline tickets for migrants through the use of FEMA funds.
The aftermath of Hurricane Helene is a major disaster, and your waste and unpreparedness are leaving Americans in distress—unable to access food, water, or medicine—and expecting help, with none coming.
Please provide answers to the following questions to my office by October 11, 2024:
(1) What policies and regulations of the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA prevent emergency funds from being wasted on illegal immigrants, including what conditions are placed on grantees of the agency?; and
(2) Of FEMA's total budget for FY 2024, what portion of funds can be guaranteed to have been spent solely on American citizens, and what portion of funds was or may have been spent on noncitizens?; and
(3) In FY 2024, what portion of funds in the Disaster Relief Fund has been spent on non-disaster-relief programs, such as providing services to illegal aliens or providing routine training to FEMA employees authorized our of general appropriations.”
BREAKING: FEMA whistleblowers have come forward alleging that the agency misappropriated funds in the wake of Helene, withheld pre-disaster aid, and that first responders and service members have been waiting in hotels without deployment orders. pic.twitter.com/uf0XrspRTz
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 4, 2024
The American public deserves to know how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent, especially during times of crisis. As we face an unprecedented hurricane season, the failure of FEMA to prioritize American citizens over non-citizens is not just a misallocation of resources—it’s a national disgrace, it's treason.
The time for accountability is now.
You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft's articles here.