FEMA maintains separate funds for disaster relief and aid for immigrants. As a FEMA spokesperson explained, “The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA's disaster-related authorities or funding streams." [Newsweek, 10/4/24]

Donald Trump alleged that the Biden administration “stole the FEMA money” for undocumented immigrants during an October 3 campaign rally, prompting a fact check from FEMA. An October 3 entry in FEMA’s “Hurricane Rumor Response” page explained: “FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts.” [The Daily Beast, 10/3/24; Federal Emergency Management Agency, 10/3/24]

Fox News knows that FEMA disaster money is not going towards aid to undocumented immigrants. On October 8, senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram posted on X that Fox News obtained a GOP memo saying there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. When Pergram appeared on the network after posting about the memo, he failed to discuss the part of the document that debunks the lie that the federal government spent disaster relief funds on migrant aid. . [Media Matters, 10/10/24, 10/9/24, 10/9/24]

Watters first repeated the smear on the October 3 edition of his eponymous show, saying “the Biden-Harris administration spent a billion dollars of FEMA money on illegal aliens,” without providing context about the separate funds. Watters continued, “When American citizens, the ones who were born here and pay taxes, deserve help, Biden and Harris are saying, ‘Ah, sorry, we gave it all away to the people who broke into the country.’” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/3/24]

The next day, after FEMA published a fact-check debunking the claim on its webpage, Watters repeated the lie: “After blowing a billion dollars on migrants and with Mayorkas saying they ran out of money, FEMA clearly has been mismanaged, either through corruption or incompetence.” Watters then called for the immediate firing of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/4/24; FEMA, 10/3/24]

Watters doubled down the next Monday, October 7: “FEMA’s broke. … Where’d the money go? More than a billion dollars went to welcoming Biden's migrants.” Watters also said that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “lied” after she debunked the claim on October 4. [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/7/24]

On October 8, during a segment criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ approach to Hurricane Milton relief, Watters’ guest Stephen Miller accused Harris of “divert[ing] all the FEMA funds to illegal aliens.” Miller ranted, “Now FEMA is broke, they can't help Americans. Why? Because Kamala cares about illegals more.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/8/24]

As Hurricane Milton made landfall on October 9, Watters doubled down again: “Mayorkas said FEMA was going to run out of money for hurricane season. And FEMA admitted they wasted a billion on migrants. Now, I'm not great at math… but if you spend too much money on one thing and don't have enough money for another thing, that means you messed up.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/9/24]

Hannity began repeating the lie on his prime-time show on October 3, alleging the Biden administration “took over $1 billion of FEMA funds supposed to be available for national emergencies to help you, the American people, … and they spent all of that money on their 11.5 million unvetted illegal immigrants from over 180 other countries.” Hannity falsely claimed disaster money was used for “free food, housing, health care, education, sex change surgeries, debit cards, four-star hotels for illegal immigrants.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/3/24]

The next day, Hannity lamented that FEMA is “taking money for Americans and giving it to their illegal immigrants that they are obsessed with.” He added, “It is unconscionable. It is soulless,” and maintained that FEMA “should be focused on emergency management, not illegal immigration.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/4/24]

The following Monday, October 7, Hannity persisted with the smear, saying that FEMA is “bankrupt” because “over a billion dollars went to Harris-Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/7/24]

On October 8, Hannity demanded that the Biden administration “not steal the money from FEMA and give it to your unvetted illegal immigrants from 180 countries, because their illegal immigrants seem to be prioritized that are way more important than the American people.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/8/24]

On October 9, Hannity complained that “the agency distributed more than a billion dollars to house and feed Harris and Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” “Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas said, ‘Yeah, FEMA is apparently in shambles financially and we probably don't have enough money for hurricane season,’” Hannity ranted. “Then, we discovered on FEMA’s own website that the agency distributed more than a billion dollars to house and feed Harris and Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/9/24]

On October 10, Hannity continued to claim that at FEMA, “over a billion dollars was diverted to help their unvetted illegal immigrants.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/10/24]

On Fox & Friends First, former NFL player and conservative activist Jack Brewer cited “FEMA money going to illegal immigrants” as a reason that the Biden-Harris administration has to change the “way that we deal with natural disasters.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends First, 10/8/24]

While discussing Hurricane Helene relief, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy attacked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly having “millions and millions and millions of dollars” and choosing to spend the money not on Americans, but on “processing people who are in this country illegally.” Co-host Ainsley Earhardt responded that the money should instead “go toward these American families that have lost everything.” Doocy suggested the Biden administration should remedy the budget crisis by announcing a “pause on all the people coming into the country illegally” and should instead “reprogram that money to take care of the people here in the United States.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/3/24]

Outnumbered co-host Kayleigh McEnany falsely claimed that the “reason why” FEMA was facing a budget shortfall was because the agency spent “almost a billion dollars” on “illegal immigrants in migrant shelters.” Emily Compagno reiterated the sentiment by alleging that the “federal government wasted the taxpayer money that these Americans invested” and that Americans were entitled to the money over undocumented immigrants. “FEMA's funds are their funds that they paid into, that they are now being withheld from to pay for illegal migrants,” she complained. [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/4/24] 

The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld used a false analogy to compare FEMA funding to a bank account to allege aid to undocumented immigrants was taken at the expense of disaster relief aid: “It’s all the same thing. So, if you've got to spend money here, it is going to be taken away from here.” He asked, “Why do Americans have to wait in line for the stuff they pay for?” [Fox News, The Five, 10/9/24]

Laura Ingraham stated that “Democrats are prioritizing the needs of noncitizens … ahead of the people that our leaders are supposed to be serving.” Ingraham called the allocation of money for undocumented immigrant aid “disgraceful” and claimed it resulted in Americans facing inflation and debt to “give gobs of money to liberal special interests.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/3/24]

Repeat Gutfeld! guest and antisemitic right-wing media personality Bryan Sharpe complained The New York Times was not addressing “FEMA not having money because they spent it on illegal migrants” [Fox News, Gutfeld!, 10/8/24; Media Matters, 9/9/22, 10/3/23]

Fox anchor Dana Perino highlighted DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ “warning” that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through hurricane season” despite “Mayorkas' DHS having $640 million — now that’s designated money — to help communities support illegal migrants.” Fox correspondent Chad Pergram took the blame off Congress: “Congress made sure FEMA had more than $20 billion in last week's emergency spending bill ahead of the storm.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 10/3/24] 

Even though the Shelter and Services Program is distinct from FEMA’s disaster response, Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway said that “they want us to believe that that’s not so and those funds wouldn't be fungible anyway.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 10/9/24; Media Matters, 10/9/24]

Fox anchor John Roberts asked why the federal government did not use the $66 billion FEMA spent “taking care of the illegal immigration problem” to pay for hurricane relief. [Fox News, America Reports, 10/3/24]

Former Vivek Ramaswamy communications director Tricia McLaughlin claimed, “We know that $670 million have gone to efforts under FEMA's umbrella to house migrants.” She asked, “Why is the focus on noncitizens in this country and not on the recovery efforts for Americans?” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 10/9/24]