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Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed on his show that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was “running out of money” and was sending resources needed by victims of Hurricane Helene to migrant shelters instead.
His claims would later be debunked by a Fox News correspondent, but not before Hannity would misrepresent information about FEMA’s finances.
Hannity said during his monologue that he was responding to comments from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“You have [Department of Homeland Security] secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying FEMA is running out of money and going bankrupt,” he said on his show. “This has not been a busy hurricane season.”
Republicans have been pushing misinformation about hurricane relief efforts under the Biden administration since Hurricane Helene hit the southeast. Conservatives — including Hannity — have taken to calling the storm “Kamala’s Katrina” and have wrongly claimed that victims were only being given $750 in assistance.
More bizarre claims from the likes of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene have gone so far as to accuse the Democrats of using “weather control” devices to direct hurricanes into areas with heavy Republican voter bases.
Hannity cited a press release FEMA put out in April that announced it would run the Shelter and Services Program for migrants. That program is administered by FEMA but funded through US Customs and Border Protection, and does not come from funds meant for emergency relief. It is intended to provide “safe, orderly and humane” conditions for migrants being released from the Department of Homeland Security, and was funded by Congress to the tune of $650m for the fiscal year 2024.
“The last two years over $1 billion [went] from FEMA to help Harris and Biden [house] illegal immigrants. It’s not a deep fake, it’s not misinformation. It’s the truth,” Hannity claimed. “This is the Biden administration caught red handed dedicating a massive amount of money that was supposed to be there for emergency relief for Americans in North Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere to dispense to illegal immigrants while hurricane ravaged victims all over the country are left out to dry.”
Hannity’s attempt to paint FEMA as broke and using what resources it has to house migrants was immediately debunked by one of his own colleagues — Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram.
Pergram posted an update from the House Appropriations Committee concerning disaster aid on his X account, revealing that FEMA “has enough funding in the short-term to address immediate needs for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.”
He said the information came from a “fact sheet” he had received from the committee.
Pergram wrote that the sheet also said there is “‘no funding connection between’ the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. It adds there is ‘no intermingling of funding between these two programs.’ It adds that ‘the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.’”
Mayorkas’ comments which Hannity was responding to on his show — were not addressed in the fact sheet noted by Pergram.
While GOP lawmakers — including Donald Trump — and conservative media figures continue to push misinformation about the recovery efforts, Republicans who represent the people affected are pushing back against the talking points.
Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents North Carolina’s 11th district, contradicted the messaging from some of his Republican Party colleagues in a press release, saying he has seen “a level of support that is unmatched by most any other disaster nationwide” coming from the Biden administration.
He further condemned the “outrageous rumors” that were hurting aid operations for those affected in his statement, which was titled “Debunking Helene Response Myths.”
Among his rebuttals to the “myths” was a denial of the claim that Helene was “geo-engineered by the government to seize and access lithium deposits in Chimney Rock.”
He also directly addressed the claims that Hannity pushed on his show.
“FEMA has NOT diverted disaster response funding to the border or foreign aid,” he wrote, and added that it was “NOT only providing $750 to disaster survivors to support their recovery.”
The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.
