The push of the interior secretary Kristi Noem for mass deportations is not only draining The immigration and customs budget, but this also causes collateral damage throughout the Ministry of Homeland Security.
A new memo obtained by CNN reveals that Noem, citing budgetary pressures, ordered each DHS contract and grants more than $ 100,000 to cross his office for personal approval. The directive affects each agency under DHS, including ice, customs and border protection, Coastal guardthe secret services, and – the most critical – the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
FEMA officials have alarms, warning that Noem’s examination mandate could delay emergency funding during natural disasters. It is Not an abstract concern: Hurricane season officially started on June 1 and researchers forecast That the Atlantic Hurricane season this year will be 125% more active than usual.
“This will harm non -profit organizations, states and small towns. Massive delays feel inevitable,” FEMA official told CNN.
A former senior FEMA managed it more squarely.
“It’s crazy,” they said.
The main concern for FEMA is timing. According to the memo, the office of Noem expects that each financing examination takes at least five days, which could look like an eternity when lives are at stake. During the ancient hurricanes, like Helene and Milton last year, the FEMA forced up to $ 7 billion in a single month. But now this type of rapid deployment could be stuck in bureaucratic limbo.
“I was shocked. I have never seen a control like this put in place. The number of documents and explanations that FEMA should make to justify the expenses would result in paralysis. If lives are at stake, I believe that FEMA staff would disobey this memo or what they are leaving, “said Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff for Biden and Obama’s administrations.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the DHS said that the new controls concerned “waste, fraud, fraud, [and] abuse “, and that Noem” provides responsibility to the American taxpayer “.
But the wider context is more difficult to ignore.
According to AxiosIce is already $ 1 billion on the budget with more than three months in the exercise, and it could lack money by July.
President Donald Trump ordered What he calls “the biggest mass deportation program in history”, with his demanding administration 3,000 arrests per dayA huge jump From the daily average of 660 at the start of his first mandate. That Delivered with a massive price– And now the whole department rushes so that mathematics work.
Noem’s memo requires agencies to submit detailed justifications for each request, including the dollar amounts, the impact of the mission, deadlines, etc. This was already a complex federal supply system is now faced with another layer of political bureaucracy.
And FEMA is not only concerned about documents. In recent weeks, Noem would have been installed At least half a dozen DHS officials – most with little or no rescue experience in the event of a disaster – in the FEMA Office Front, where they are now directing daily operations.
For FEMA staff, it is starting to look like a hostile takeover. And this is not the first time that a federal agency has been emptied from the inside. Just look at what happened to Internal Rent Revenue Service and the Department of Education.
It is not difficult to see writing on the wall. Trump and Noem both pointed out that they Plan to eliminate FEMA after the hurricanes season in 2025, which ended on November 30, fully transferring the burden of the response to disasters to the States.
Thus, even if the ice can be the immediate monetary pit, FEMA – and the people who depend on it – could end up paying the price.
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