FEMA Transfers Millions To ICE As Florence Bears Down: Merkley

PORTLAND, OR – Millions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help pay for beds at their detention centers, according to a Department of Homeland Security budget document. The document was released by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) on :The Rachel Maddow Show" on Tuesday night.

"This is a scandal," Merkley said on Wednesday. "The administration transferred millions of dollars away from FEMA. And for what? To implement their profoundly misguided ‘zero tolerance’ policy.

"It wasn’t enough to rip thousands of children out of the arms of their parents – the administration chose to partly pay for this horrific program by taking away from the ability to respond to damage from this year’s upcoming and potentially devastating hurricane season."

Merkley pointed out that the transfer, which happened at the end of August, comes as "American citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still suffering from FEMA’s inadequate recovery efforts."

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and FEMA, pushed back against Merkely's characterization of the transfer. Get all the latest information on what's happening in your community by signing up for Patch's newsletters and breaking news alerts.

"Under no circumstances was any disaster relief funding transferred from @fema to immigration enforcement efforts," DHS Spokesman Tyler Houlton tweeted, adding that Merkley's allegations are "a sorry attemmpt to push a false agenda."

The document, which DHS confirms is genuine, states that without the money, ICE will not have "adequate funding for adult detention beds and transportation removal program."

It states that FEMA "will curtail training, travel, public engagement sessions" among other things including "infrastructure maintenance."

ICE maintains that without the funds, they "could also be forced to reduce its current interior enforcement operations, curtailing criminal alien and fugitive arrests-which would pose a significant risk to public safety and national security by permitting known offenders to remain at large."

FEMA, which has tried to draw a line between disaster relief and their operational expenses, told the Associated Press that if they had not transferred the money, they would have lost the ability to use it at the end of September.

At a briefing on Hurricane Florence, FEMA Administrator Jeff Byard, reassured people that despite the transfer, "We have plenty of resources both monetary, staff, and commodities to respond to the dangerous storm that is Hurricane Florence."

The AP contributed reporting

President Donald Trump, left, listens to a reporters question as FEMA Administrator Brock Long, center, and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, right, listen during a briefing on Hurricane Florence in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)