In 2019, then-President Donald Trump took $155 million from the federal government’s main disaster fund and used it to build immigration facilities near the U.S.-Mexico border.
Now senior officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are expressing concern that Trump could again redirect disaster resources after he takes office, but on a much larger scale. That could limit FEMA’s ability to help people and communities after major disasters, they say.
“But I am concerned that could happen, or that FEMA is given tasks to do things that are in support of immigration programs, whether it’s deportation or other aspects of immigration,” the agency’s chief of staff, Michael Coen, said in a rare interview.
“It could divert DRF funding from what members of Congress and the American people believe is its intended purpose,” Coen said, referring to FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which helps households and communities survive and rebuild.
“It would be demoralizing to the staff, who believe they’re there to support disaster survivors and mitigate against natural disasters,” he added.
Coen, who was appointed to his post in 2021 by President Joe Biden, spoke as he prepares to leave the agency, where he has worked under every Democratic president since Bill Clinton.
Other Biden appointees told POLITICO’s E&E News they fear that Trump will use FEMA’s disaster money and staff to fulfill his vows to deport millions of undocumented migrants. Although FEMA aid is supposed to be spent on natural disasters such as floods, wildfires and storms, previous presidents have used some of the money to help the nation recover from terrorist attacks.
President Jimmy Carter gave disaster aid to four South Florida counties in 1980 after a mass emigration of Cubans to the U.S. known as the Mariel boatlift.
FEMA has faced budget shortfalls for two years, forcing the agency to restrict disaster spending and to seek additional funding from a reluctant Congress. The agency was financially sound when Trump diverted FEMA funds for building the border facility. It had $26 billion in disaster reserves at the time.
Coen said his concerns are “general” and based on how the Trump administration had sought to use money from FEMA and other agencies for border activities.
“I don’t have anything specific. I haven’t heard anything,” Coen said.
Trump has not named a future FEMA administrator or said anything publicly about diverting disaster funds for immigration and border security. As a candidate this year, Trump inaccurately accused FEMA of diverting disaster funds to help secure the Southwest border.
He selected South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA and immigration agencies such as Customs and Border Protection. Noem gained national attention in 2021 for sending South Dakota National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
As part of Homeland Security, FEMA has handled a growing range of events unrelated to natural disasters. Biden put FEMA in charge of setting up coronavirus vaccination clinics nationwide. Congress directed FEMA to help set up shelters along the Southwest border with a special allotment of $650 million.
“I’m always concerned about mission creep and FEMA being given more problems to solve than what I think the American people think FEMA really should be doing,” Coen said. “The average person believes FEMA is there to help the country on its worst day and help disaster victims when they’re having their worst day.”
“But because FEMA is a problem-solver, FEMA was given the task at the beginning of this administration to set up the mass-vaccination clinics across the country, which vaccinated millions of people,” Coen said.
FEMA could ease its growing workload by responding to fewer routine natural disasters, Coen said.
“States probably need to take on more of the share of the response,” he said, noting that he supports increasing the cost threshold that FEMA uses to determine if an event has caused enough damage to merit disaster aid.
“Something needs to change, because it’s not sustainable the way it is,” Coen said.