DHS Announces Distribution of More Than $77 Million in Congressional Funding for Communities Receiving Migrants
By: President Biden (U. S. Department of Homeland Security)
A proactive political move in preparation for Joe Biden's reelection bid? A kneejerk response to quench a firestorm of bad press? Or simply a consequence of unplanned, ill considered policies to pander to migration advocates?
If we turn back Mr. Peabody's wayback machine, we find a number of sanctuary cities declaring emergencies over the flood of illegal immigrants. The tsunami of a few thousand illegal immigrants dumped on New York was bankrupting the city. These sanctuaries were demanding Federal assistance (that's taxpayer money, folks) to save their political reputations. Disaster relief was a rather obvious go-to excuse to apply for funds. And, yes, FEMA was diverting its emergency preparation funds toward this political relief.
Congress to the rescue! Congress authorized (and funded) separating the Shelter and Services function from Emergency Relief. It was a nifty way to bamboozle voters into believing FEMA funds were not be diverted to bailing out sanctuary cities.
Diversion of FEMA funds has now been institutionalized as a budget line in Congressional appropriations. What hasn't been highlighted (for obvious reasons) is that a considerable portion of the appropriation has been allocated for specific, targeted recipients.
Yes, boys & girls, this is how Big Government really works. Your taxpayer dollars really are being used to quiet the squeaky political wheels. After all the hand waving, vapid demagoguery, and mindless platitudes, we're expected to forget that the necessity for the publicly funded golden goose egg was caused by dimwitted academic advocacy, pandering to score political points, and bad public policy.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
August 21, 2023, WASHINGTON - Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), announced more than $77 million in grants to support border and interior communities receiving migrants through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP). The funding will be available to 53 grant recipients for temporary shelter and other eligible costs associated with migrants awaiting the outcome of their immigration proceedings. Today's announcement builds on the more than $290 million announced through SSP in June, which brings the total funding allocated to more than $770 million. Overall, 69 entities, in both Southwest Border and interior communities, have received funding this year through SSP and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program - Humanitarian Awards (EFSP-H).
Supporting communities is a critical component of DHS's efforts to manage encounters at the Southwest Border in a safe, orderly, and humane manner. This includes the Biden Administration's efforts to expand access to lawful and orderly pathways and processes while continuing to apply strengthened consequences for unlawful entry. DHS also requested $600 million in the FY23 budget supplemental to support border and interior communities receiving migrants.
The Bipartisan Year-End Omnibus signed by President Biden on December 29, 2022, authorized the creation of the new SSP grant program to support these communities. The Omnibus directed CBP to transfer $800 million in funding to FEMA to establish the SSP and authorized the use of a portion of that funding for the existing EFSP-H until SSP was established. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) National Board has allocated more than $400 million to support communities receiving migrants across the country, including $332.5 million announced on May 5, 2023 to 35 entities and $75 million awarded by the National Board in December 2022. The SSP was designed to quickly allocate funding to both Southwest Border and interior communities to meet a diverse set of needs across the nation.
As part of today's announcement, and in response to technical assistance and stakeholder feedback, DHS has also amended the policy to expand the cap for both hotels/motels and airfare to 10 percent of the total funding requested by the applicant. In addition, DHS will also allow for recipients to apply for a waiver of those caps based on operational need.
For more information on the new Shelter and Services Program, visit: www.fema.gov/grants/preparedness/shelter-services-program .
But, but, but ... FEMA has not diverted money away from emergency response. That is true. Congress did it for FEMA so Alejandro Mayorkas can't be blamed. The Congress critters are so smart that no one can lead them around by the nose.
And there's a bridge in Brooklyn that can be bought for cheap, too.
And so much will go to organizations owned by democrats. So many family members of local politicians are going to make bank off this. It’s textbook corruption. It’s one of the reasons so many democrats support it event though it their constituents hate it.
Here's the list of pre-selected recipients for $300 million allocated funds:
Supposedly $770 million has been appropriated for the Shelter and Services Program. Prior to FY2023 (that ended Oct. 1, 2024) this would have been covered by the Emergency Food and Shelter Program as part of emergency relief. Sanctuary cities declaring an emergency made them eligible for review and possibly relief grants under FEMA emergency relief.
Congress really did divert funding away from emergency relief when funding the new Shelter and Services Program. Now FEMA is administering two programs that are competing against each other for funds. And Mayorkas can legitimately claim his hands are tied; Mayorkas has to provide grants to sanctuary cities because Congress requires it.
Go Dems/Libs Go - take care of ALL THE FOREIGNERS - especially the Illegal ones and tell the real U. S. citizens to go get futched.
$100M funding for hurricane relief for U.S. citizens - $770M funding for illegal aliens - what a country, eh?