White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre appears to have flip-flopped on whether or not FEMA resources were used for migrants as Americans slammed by Hurricane Helene try to recover in the aftermath.
During a recent press conference, Jean-Pierre apparently denied the agency’s resources were going to help migrants, Fox News reported Sunday.
When a reporter said, “Former President Trump is accusing the Biden administration of using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants. How is the White House responding?”
Jean-Pierre answered, “It’s just categorically false. It is not true, it is a false statement. The fact of the matter is the Washington Post fact-checker did a piece, and the headline, recently, just moments ago or not too long ago, and the headline was, ‘No, Biden did not take FEMA relief money to use on migrants but Trump did.’ I’ll leave it there”:
However, during a press conference on September 16, 2022, Jean-Pierre was asked if the White House planned to reimburse cities who saw migrants bused to their areas.
She replied, “FEMA regional administrators have been meeting with city officials on site to coordinate available federal support from FEMA and other federal agencies.”
“Funding is also available through FEMA’s emergency food and shelter program to eligible local governments and not for profit organizations upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants,” she added.
The relevant portion of the clip begins at the 23:38 mark:
Readers can watch an edited version of both clips here:
Meanwhile, critics have been blasting the Biden-Harris administration’s use of FEMA money as Americans in North Carolina are trying to put their lives back together following Hurricane Helene’s historic flooding that washed out roads, decimated homes, and took many lives.
“Vice President Kamala Harris announced a $100 million package to support the state,” the Fox report said. “Critics pointed out, however, that the package was much smaller than the $157 million in foreign humanitarian support Harris had announced for Lebanon the same day.”
On Thursday, Breitbart News reported that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said FEMA lacked the money to make it through the remainder of hurricane season which comes to a close on November 30.
The report also noted, “yet $640 million has been allotted to DHS specifically for issues related to illegal immigrants.”
