GOP rep. demands answers over whistleblower reports alleging FEMA misappropriated funds

Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz on Friday sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding answers on alleged reports from Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) whistleblowers that FEMA misappropriated funds.

Gaetz claimed the whistleblowers told him that FEMA has serious mismanagement issues and used taxpayer funds marked for disaster relief on non-disaster-relief programs that housed and supported illegal immigrants on the country's southern border. 

The letter comes the day after Mayorkas told reporters that FEMA does not “have enough funds to make it through the [hurricane] season."

Gaetz also said the whistleblowers told him that FEMA employees are on the ground in areas impacted by Hurricane Helene, such as North Carolina, but do not have deployment orders so they are waiting on the clock in hotels. 

"The aftermath of Hurricane Helene is a major disaster, and your waste and unpreparedness are leaving Americans in distress—unable to access food, water, or medicine—and expecting help, with none coming," Gaetz wrote.

FEMA, the White House, and the Department of Homeland Security have pushed back on allegations that disaster relief money was used on illegal immigrants, and said the money for migrants comes from a different program funded by Congress, which requires FEMA to use funding shifted over from Customs and Border Protection.

"No disaster relief funding at all was used to support migrants housing and services. None. At. All," White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a memo. "In fact, the funding for communities to support migrants is directly appropriated by Congress to CBP, and is merely administered by FEMA. The funding is in no way related to FEMA’s response and recovery efforts."

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.