Senator says FEMA funds moved

$10 million went to immigration work; agency denies aid affected

WASHINGTON — Officials in President Donald Trump’s administration pushed back Wednesday against a Democratic senator’s claim that nearly $10 million from the government’s disaster relief agency was transferred to immigration enforcement.

Sen. Jeff Merkley’s claim, which came as a hurricane barreled toward the Carolinas, was quickly branded by the Homeland Security Department as “a sorry attempt to push a false agenda.”

The Oregon senator said the administration took $9.8 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and put it in the coffers of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He based his claim on a 39-page Department of Homeland Security transfer and reprogramming report dated Aug. 31.

It shows that the Homeland Security Department requested that about $9.8 million going toward FEMA efforts such as “Preparedness and Protection” and “Response and Recovery” be funneled instead into Immigration and Customs Enforcement coffers, specifically underwriting “Detention Beds” and the agency’s “Transportation and Removal Program.” The Secret Service was also a beneficiary of the reallocation.

Merkley said he came across the document in the course of his efforts to try “to stop child separations,” which included his attempt in early June to visit a detention facility in south Texas. He linked the transfer of funds to the zero-tolerance policy announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in May.

Homeland Security officials said the account supports FEMA headquarters operational expenses and cannot be used for disaster response. It came in under budget for expenses including travel, training and office supplies and money was moved.

The claim sparked an emphatic denial from the Homeland Security Department, which said the impact on FEMA’s response and recovery efforts was zero. The agency’s budget is more than $15 billion.

“Under no circumstances was any disaster relief funding transferred from FEMA to immigration enforcement efforts,” department spokesman Tyler Houlton said. “This is a sorry attempt to push a false agenda at a time when the administration is focused on assisting millions on the East Coast facing a catastrophic disaster.”

The Homeland Security Department has the authority to move money around between its components, which include immigration agencies, disaster management, the Coast Guard and the Secret Service. Other agencies had money moved around.

According to Sen. Patrick Leahy’s office, the Homeland Security Department notified Congress on June 30 that it would transfer $200 million from other agencies to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including the funds from FEMA. Leahy, a Democrat who is the Senate Appropriations Committee vice chairman, said the transfer was approved by the subcommittee chairmen and no Democrats signed off on it.

The memorandum sheds light on the immigration-enforcement operations enhanced by the FEMA funds. Without the transfer, the document notes, “[Immigration and Customs Enforcement] will not be able to fulfill its adult detention requirements in FY 2018.” Insufficient funding, Homeland Security observes, could prevent the agency from deporting people who stand in violation of the country’s immigration laws while requiring the immigration agency to “release any new book-ins and illegal border violators,” to “reduce its current interior enforcement operations” and to limit “criminal alien and fugitive arrests.”

These new limitations, the department warns, “would pose a significant risk to public safety and national security by permitting known offenders to remain at large.”

Merkley’s office said he found the reallocation concerning given last season’s hurricane response, when the agency was criticized for its handling of Hurricane Maria. Merkley spoke about the document Tuesday on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and Wednesday on CNN.

“This is a scandal,” Merkley said in a statement. “At the start of hurricane season — when American citizens in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are still suffering from FEMA’s inadequate recovery efforts — the administration transferred millions of dollars away from FEMA.”

Homeland Security officials said the funds were in savings and would have been lost had they not been transferred before the fiscal year ended Sept. 30. FEMA spokesman Jenny Burke said on Twitter that she tried to explain the nuance of the document to Merkley’s staff before he went on air but they were told: “It’s a TV hit, you take it where you can.”

At a news conference at FEMA’s Washington headquarters about the impending hurricane, officials said the agency was properly funded and prepared, and it was most important to focus on the upcoming storm, which could do catastrophic damage.

“We have plenty of resources both monetary, staff and commodities to respond to the dangerous storm that is Hurricane Florence,” said administrator Jeff Byard. “Right now we want to focus on those impacts from Florence and what can our citizens do today, which is the last good day to evacuate.”