On Tuesday night, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley appeared on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show and presented documents showing that nearly $10 million in funds allocated to FEMA had been transferred to ICE. According to Merkley, money that should be going to “response and recovery” was being shifted because the Trump administration was “working hard to find funds for additional detention camps.”
BREAKING: Trump admin moved millions of dollars from FEMA to ICE ahead of 2018 hurricane season.
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) September 12, 2018
Senator Merkley joins us now to discuss. pic.twitter.com/M2rIIi4hsh
Merkley’s accusation is in least part true. There is no question that funds have been moved away from FEMA as well as also other agencies under the aegis of the Department of Homeland Security and given to ICE.
But Homeland Security press secretary Tyler Houlton disputed that any money spent on disaster relief is affected by the transfer. “Under no circumstances was any disaster relief funding transferred from @fema to immigration enforcement efforts,” Houlton tweeted.
Under no circumstances was any disaster relief funding transferred from @fema to immigration enforcement efforts. 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.
— Tyler Q. Houlton (@SpoxDHS) September 12, 2018