After the Homeland Security secretary last week warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency can meet immediate needs but is short of funding to make it through hurricane season, false claims about the agency’s spending are proliferating.
Some allege that the projected shortfall means Helene survivors won’t get the help they need, wrongly blaming agency spending on migrant services for draining disaster relief funds.
Here’s how FEMA is spending disaster funds — and how it isn’t.
Helene fact check: Here are the rumors and the reality in Western North Carolina
Migrant services
Both former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have peddled a claim that FEMA emptied its account to “import voters.” The unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Democrats allow people to cross the border illegally and then register them to vote is one that Trump and Musk echo often, despite evidence that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.
“The GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants in what is now considered to be the WORST rescue operation in the history of the U.S.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday.
In truth, FEMA did not divert disaster relief funds to people who are living in the country without legal authorization. And it has enough money for immediate disaster relief, the agency says.
Some Trump supporters amplifying this claim are alluding to a migrant services program funded by Customs and Border Protection money at Congress’ direction. FEMA distributed about $650 million last fiscal year under the program to support communities that are receiving migrants and relieve overcrowding in temporary shelters.
Others, like right-wing X user Libs of TikTok, are referring to a FEMA program that helps provide food and shelter to those in need. Congress previously appropriated funds under the program to a now-defunct arm that provided humanitarian relief for migrants, which was replaced by the CBP-funded program.
FEMA’s disaster fund, which supports federal disaster relief, is a separate spigot. There are stringent spending terms for the fund, which Congress replenishes through appropriations. It’s most often used to provide federal assistance after the president declares a major disaster.
Though those migrant programs don’t spend disaster relief funds, the Trump administration in 2019 told Congress it was taking $155 million from the disaster fund to give to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Washington Post reported.
COVID-19
Libs of TikTok also ignited fury over FEMA’s COVID-19 assistance, which is doled out from the disaster relief fund.
“Billions of dollars are being spent on a pandemic that’s been over for years while Helene victims are struggling,” the post read. “See for yourself where the priorities lie in Kamala’s America.”
Trump first authorized the use of the disaster fund for COVID-19 relief in an unprecedented move in March 2020. It was the first time the fund was used for simultaneous disaster assistance nationwide. When President Joe Biden took office, he expanded the pandemic relief.
FEMA has promised nearly $15 billion in disaster relief funds for COVID-19 assistance in the past fiscal year, including $491 million to North Carolina, according to its latest report. That’s because it’s still reimbursing states, territories and tribes for pandemic-related costs, like vaccination and testing services. It’s also still covering COVID-19-related funerals. The deadline to incur all COVID-19 costs is in 2026.
A Government Accountability Office analysis found that FEMA underestimated pandemic-related costs. It’s taking FEMA years to review and reimburse COVID-19 expenses because the agency faced a slew of requests from across the country during the pandemic, the GAO said.
Armed guards
This week, FEMA posted a contract opportunity for private, armed security guards as part of its disaster response in North Carolina, which sparked outrage on X.
“If they were helping people as well as they could, the people themselves would protect FEMA,” one user posted.
The FEMA posting says the agency uses armed guards to “safeguard federal employees, visitors, and property at both temporary and fixed facilities during disaster and emergency declarations.” The contract will likely be between $5 and $10 million.
North Carolina isn’t the only state where FEMA’s hiring armed guards: It also recently posted similar contract opportunities in Iowa, Texas, Connecticut and South Carolina.
Helene survivors
FEMA is providing a one-time payment of $750 to households impacted by Helene to help survivors cover immediate costs like food, water and hygiene items while they apply for more assistance. It’s a new grant that the agency launched in March.
The $750 is not a loan, an agency official said on X in response to a user that said survivors had to repay it or “the feds can seize their property.”
“This is not true,” wrote FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg. “We do not ask for this money back.”
That’s the case for most FEMA grants, notwithstanding agency assistance for costs later covered by insurance, which must be paid back. The Small Business Administration, a different federal agency, offers disaster loans.
The $750 isn’t the only disaster relief FEMA will provide, contrary to some claims.
Disaster-affected people can receive FEMA assistance to cover a variety of expenses up to a cap of $42,500, including:
Immediate housing for the displaced
Home and property repair or replacement
Disaster-related medical or dental care
Funerals
Child care
The maximum of $42,500 doesn’t include assistance for rental housing in the 18 months after a disaster or expenses for people with disabilities.
FEMA has approved nearly $70 million in housing and other assistance for over 57,000 North Carolinians thus far, according to its website. The deadline to apply is Nov. 27.
What happens when disaster relief funds run low?
North Carolina’s House speaker, Tim Moore, said the federal government will bear the brunt of storm relief costs, The News & Observer previously reported. Congress passed a stopgap spending bill last month to temporarily alleviate the budget shortfall through the end of the year, which shook loose about $20 billion in disaster relief funds.
President Joe Biden last week asked lawmakers for more disaster relief funding. Rep. Chuck Edwards, who represents North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, said it’s coming.
“I’m confident that supplemental disaster relief funding, which I am already involved in the process of creating, will be considered in the House once we return to session in mid-November,” Edwards said in a news release.
Scant funding forces FEMA to limit nonurgent relief efforts. When restrictions are in place, the fund is still available for critical needs and housing assistance. It also still can provide grants to cover lifesaving and life-sustaining community expenses, like debris clearing or road repairs.
FEMA last imposed nonurgent relief restrictions in August, which it lifted after Congress passed the September stopgap.