USA TODAY US Edition

FEMA says it’s in good position for response

But some questionin­g $10M transfer to ICE

- Ledyard King and Christal Hayes USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – A senior official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency said the agency is well positioned to respond to Hurricane Florence, despite a report that nearly $10 million was transferre­d this summer to help boost U.S. Immigratio­n and Customs Enforcemen­t.

“We have plenty of resources to respond. We have plenty of resources to recover,” Jeff Byard, FEMA’s associate administra­tor for response and recovery, said Wednesday morning. “That has not impacted our situation whatsoever.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, shared documents detailing the transfer on MSNBC on Tuesday night, as Hurricane Florence bore down on the North and South Carolina coasts.

Merkley told USA TODAY late Tuesday that the transfer was “incredibly irresponsi­ble.”

After the devastatio­n of last year’s storms – the triple wallop of Hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma – FEMA should have the funds it needs to be prepared for another disastrous hurricane season.

“It’s almost guaranteed to happen again,” said Merkley, a member of the Senate Appropriat­ions Committee, which oversees and approves federal spending.

The transfer to ICE is an especially sore point with Democrats, who have been battling the administra­tion on the detention and forced separation of immigrant families crossing the border.

“This is yet another example of the Trump administra­tion’s outrageous­ly misplaced homeland security priorities,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississipp­i, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security.

The budgeting document, “Department of Homeland Security FY 2018 transfer and reprogramm­ing notificati­ons,” indicates that $9,755,303 was taken from FEMA, about 0.9 percent of the agency’s listed overall budget, and given to support ICE.

Money was also taken from other agencies, including millions from the Transporta­tion Security Administra­tion and the Coast Guard, to help ICE, the document shows.

FEMA, TSA, ICE and the Coast Guard are all agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

In a tweet Tuesday night, DHS spokesman Tyler Q. Houlton said the money came from FEMA’s routine operating expenses and “could not have been used for hurricane response due to appropriat­ion limitation­s.”

The latest monthly report on the Disaster Relief Fund shows more than

$26.5 billion in the account as of Aug.

31. Byard called the amount in the fund “healthy.”

News of the budget transfer comes several weeks after FEMA acknowledg­ed staffing shortages and logistical challenges in responding to Hurricane Maria last year in Puerto Rico. Nearly

3,000 people died in the storm and its aftermath.

FEMA Administra­tor Brock Long said the agency has learned from last year and will be better prepared to confront disasters this year.

“FEMA began incorporat­ing lessons in real time as they were identified and continues to do so to prepare for the 2018 hurricane season,” Long wrote in a column last month for USA TODAY. “We have substantia­lly increased stockpiles of resources across the nation, focusing on remote, hardto-reach locations.”

“That has not impacted our situation whatsoever.”

Jeff Byard FEMA’s associate administra­tor for response and recovery, on the $10 million transfer to ICE

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