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Internal security officials discuss the use of FEMA funds, intended to provide housing and other aid to migrants, for the application of immigration, according to several familiar sources with discussions.
The so-called shelter and services program was the target of republican attacks during the 2024 presidential campaign and attracted the anger of Elon Musk earlier this year, ultimately causing the dismissals of four employees.
This week, FEMA informed the beneficiaries that it put an end to the subsidies associated with the program, arguing that payments “no longer carry out the program’s objectives or the priorities of the agency”, according to a letter of termination obtained by CNN.
“People who receive these services often have no legal status and are illegally in the United States, such as those awaiting deletion procedures. This, in turn, argues illegal foreigners and does not comply with the current DHS priorities, “said the administrator of the acting FEMA, Cameron Hamilton, in the letters of dismissal distributed to the subsidy beneficiaries this week.
The subsidy program was created in 2019 to help cities to rebuild migrants, but which administered it has changed over the years. The food and shelter emergency program, a FEMA component, administered the program, and later FEMA administered funds in partnership with customs and the protection of American borders.
The FEMA refuge and services program granted $ 641 million to dozens of states and organizations during the year 2024, According to the agency.
SSP funding is not estimated at more than $ 800 million, according to a source with knowledge.
“The legislative authority of this subsidy program is extremely wide,” said a source in CNN. “Their interpretation is that providing an immigrant shelter is equivalent to a detention bed.”
No final decision was made on the reuse of SSP funding for the application of immigration, according to sources.
“Secretary Noem has ordered FEMA to implement additional checks to ensure that all the actions that come out in accordance with the law and do not go to fraud, waste or abuse, as in the past,” the spokesman for the Ministry of Internal Security, Tricia McLaughlin in a press release. “The open -borded sauce train is over, and there will not be a single penny spent which goes against the interest and security of the American people.”
The potential redesign of FEMA funds for the application of immigration is made in the context of discussions for Demonstrate the rescue agency in the event of a disaster And a push to consolidate the resources to execute the president’s mass deportation promise.
It is not uncommon for the departments, including the DHS, to reprogram the funds. DHS has already redistributed funds for detention beds. During Trump’s first term, administration officials Make plans Move around millions of FEMA dollars for the application of immigration.
But officials of the Trump administration examine whether the DHS have the power to redistribute these program funds for the application of immigration, the sources declared to CNN, since money was appropriate to the Congress for a specific purpose. The funds were initially intended to provide financial support to shelters and cities helping the federal authorities in the midst of record border overvoltages and limited federal resources.
Funding for the SSP subsidy has actually been frozen for FEMA for weeks when the staff have been waiting for advice on how to distribute these funds without violating President Donald Trump’s decrees on immigration funding and sanctuary cities.
Hamilton also urged the best internal security officials to reduce the rescue agency program in the event of a disaster, including more recently, in a service note sent last week, that CNN obtained.
“The SSP does not align in any case with the main mission of FEMA to help people before, during and after disasters,” wrote Hamilton in memo, adding that the abolition of the FEMA program “would also support the department’s objective to reduce waste in an austere budgetary environment”.
This story has been updated with additional reports.