Acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton said Thursday that the agency would review all funding and grants provided to non-governmental organizations as the Trump administration looks to slash wasteful spending.
Hamilton made the announcement after President Donald Trump issued a memorandum last week ordering department and agency heads to review all funding for NGOs. FEMA was under scrutiny this week after Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project flagged a $59 million payment they said was used to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in New York City.
“Because we care deeply about survivors and their communities and because we want to be accountable to the American people, effectively immediately we are implementing additional steps to fully review the entire slate of grants and funding that FEMA provides to NGOs,” Hamilton said in a video posted on X.
“Our goal is to prioritize survivors and the communities impacted by the hardest hit disasters. We are doing this because we want to be responsible with our dollars and deliver them to those in need,” he added.
Starting now, I have directed a review of the grants and funding that @FEMA provides to nonprofit organizations.
Survivors and communities impacted by disasters are and will continue to be our main priority. pic.twitter.com/zUlhW0b2Kh
— Cameron Hamilton (@FEMA_Cam) February 14, 2025
Hamilton also suggested that there would be upcoming announcements about reforming FEMA as changes have been demanded both by Trump and Congressional Republicans.
On Tuesday, Trump called for the agency to be abolished and for disaster response to be turned over to the states.
“THE BIDEN RUN FEMA HAS BEEN A DISASTER. FEMA SHOULD BE TERMINATED! IT HAS BEEN SLOW AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE,” he posted on Truth Social. “INDIVIDUAL STATES SHOULD HANDLE STORMS, ETC., AS THEY COME. BIG SAVINGS, FAR MORE EFFICIENT!!!”
A group of North Carolina House Republicans wrote to Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA, on Thursday asking for more answers about “the scandalous distribution of funds that prioritized illegal aliens over the American people.”
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“It is clear that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been neglecting its core mission to serve the American people,” they wrote. “From discriminating against individuals based on political views to promoting woke agendas like DEI, the agency has repeatedly failed to fulfill its most basic duties.”
Noem said on Wednesday that she had “clawed back” the $59 million flagged by DOGE that had been provided for migrant housing in NYC. That came after DHS fired four employees who the department said undercut the directives of Trump to make the funding available. New York officials have suggested that they will seek to get the money back as the city has seen a wave of illegal immigrants.
Last month, Trump issued an executive order creating a council that will lead a comprehensive review of the agency and explore alternatives.
