Five members of Tennessee’s delegation to the U.S. House and both of its U.S. senators voted earlier this year against legislation that provided additional funding to the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to provide for the welfare of millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the southern border under the Biden-Harris administration.
The realization that FEMA was tasked with managing illegal immigrant populations inside the United States came after Hurricane Helene when Republicans revealed FEMA had directed $640.9 million in federal grants to nonprofits that support illegal immigrants.
According to Just The News, the federal agency received the mandate to support illegal immigrants last year, but in April 2024, federal lawmakers passed an omnibus spending bill to fund the government, giving the agency an additional $110 million to fund the effort.
Tennessee U.S. House Representatives Diana Harshbarger (R-TN-01), Tim Burchett (R-TN-02), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04), Andy Ogles (R-TN-05), and Mark Green (R-TN-07) voted against the bill. It passed with 286 votes in favor and 134 against in the House.
Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN) voted against the legislation in the Senate, which passed with 74 votes in favor and 24 votes against.
Among Tennessee’s congressional delegation, only Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN-09), David Kustoff (R-TN-08), and Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03) voted to fund the government with legislation that gave FEMA an expanded budget for its mandate to provide welfare for illegal immigrants.
While Republicans have questioned the spending in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, FEMA maintains on its website that no funding was redirected from disaster relief but merely allocated to the agency by Congress.
The federal funding allocated for FEMA to improve the welfare of illegal immigrants is not the only part of the agency’s budget under scrutiny in the wake of the hurricane, as The Daily Caller reported on Tuesday that FEMA launched a $12 million grant program to improve “equity” in disaster zones last year.
FEMA’s grant program seeks to provide disaster relief for “underserved communities,” which Daily Caller reported includes “African Americans, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, LGBT people and people living in rural areas, among others.”
This week, it was also reported that FEMA appears to be invested in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, according to documents that state the agency’s goals to “Instill equity as a foundation for emergency management.”
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
