‘Categorically False’: Karine Jean-Pierre Denies That FEMA Funds Were Used to Support Noncitizens

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday denied that the Biden regime was using FEMA funds to feed, clothe and shelter noncitizens, calling the allegation “categorically false.” The White House’s denial comes as FEMA whistleblowers came forward and alleged that the agency misappropriated funds.

“Former President Trump is accusing the Biden administration of using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants,” a reporter said during the White House press briefing. “How does the White House respond to that?” she asked.

“I mean, it’s just categorically false. It is not true. It is a false statement,” Jean-Pierre replied. She referred to a Washington Post factcheck titled, “No Biden Did Not Take FEMA Relief Money to Use on Migrants, But Trump Did.”

The factcheck by Glenn Kessler is based on Trump’s quip that the Biden Regime “stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank,” an inaccurate statement on the former president’s part.

Kessler also pointed to a 2019 FEMA report showing that $38 million was taken from the agency’s disaster budget and given to Immigration and Customs Enforcement in August that year as the U.S. was “facing a security and humanitarian crisis on the Southern border.”

However, it is undeniable that FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program provided $640.9 million in grants to local governments and nonprofits to take care of undocumented immigrants. It says so on their website.

The funding was distributed through two of the agency’s Shelter and Services Programs (SSP) “$300 million through SSP – Allocated (SSP-A) and $340.9 million through SSP – Competitive (SSP-C).”

“Congress boosted the budget from $360 million in fiscal year 2023 to $650 million in fiscal year 2024,” Kessler reported. “The program’s 2023 annual report says it provides shelter, such as hotel/motel services, food and transportation, including plane tickets up to $700 a person.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Wednesday that FEMA did not have enough disaster relief funds to get through the rest of hurricane season.

“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,” Mayorkas said. “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season.”

During her photo-op in Augusta, Georgia Wednesday, Harris announced that FEMA would provide $750 in relief funds for people who have immediate needs, a widely derided amount of assistance given biblical scale of devastation they are experiencing.

According to Rep. Matt Gaetz, FEMA whistleblowers have come forward alleging that the agency mismanaged and misappropriated funds and that first responders and service members have been waiting in hotels without deployment orders while hurricane victims languish.

According to multiple on the ground reports, virtually all the help is being done by private citizens, and rescue operations are being thwarted by FEMA.

“Numerous whistleblowers came forward to my office this week to sound the alarm on FEMA’s severe mismanagement issues, which have left first responders on the ground to assist with Hurricane Helene recovery efforts without deployment orders,” Gaetz wrote on X.

“For context, FEMA redirected $1.4 BILLION of taxpayer funds over the past two years to illegal aliens due to Border Czar Kamala Harris’ open-border policies,” he said.

“Today, I sent a letter to Mayorkas demanding answers on whether FEMA misappropriated taxpayer funds in the Disaster Relief Fund to be used on non-disaster-relief programs for illegal aliens,” he added.