Congress appropriated some FEMA money to house and aid migrants. Trump officials want it used to detain them
CNN
Homeland Security officials are discussing using FEMA funds, intended to provide housing and other aid to migrants, for immigration enforcement, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.
Homeland Security officials are discussing using FEMA funds, intended to provide housing and other aid to migrants, for immigration enforcement, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. The so-called Shelter and Services Program was the target of Republican attacks during the 2024 presidential campaign and drew the ire of Elon Musk earlier this year, ultimately resulting in the firings of four employees. This week, FEMA notified recipients that it was terminating grants associated with the program, arguing that the payments “no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities,” according to a termination letter obtained by CNN. “The individuals receiving these services often have no legal status and are in the United States unlawfully, such as those awaiting removal proceedings. This, in turn, provides support for illegal aliens and is not consistent with DHS’s current priorities,” Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said in termination letters distributed to grant recipients this week. The grant program was established in 2019 to aid cities sheltering migrants, but who administered it changed over the years. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program, a component of FEMA, administered the program, and later FEMA administered the funds in partnership with US Customs and Border Protection. FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program awarded $641 million to dozens of states and organizations in fiscal year 2024, according to the agency.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.
Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members, with a top Democrat calling video of the incident that was shared as part of the briefing “one of the most troubling things” he has seen as a lawmaker.
Authorities in Colombia are dealing with increasingly sophisticated criminals, who use advanced tech to produce and conceal the drugs they hope to export around the world. But police and the military are fighting back, using AI to flag suspicious passengers, cargo and mail - alongside more conventional air and sea patrols. CNN’s Isa Soares gets an inside look at Bogotá’s war on drugs.
Young Americans are “a generation under profound strain” with little confidence in institutions and widespread economic concerns, according to a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of adults younger than 30 released Thursday.
As lawmakers demand answers over reports that the US military carried out a follow-up strike that killed survivors during an attacked on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, a career Navy SEAL who has spent most of his 30 years of military experience in special operations will be responsible for providing them.
The murder trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 continues. Follow for live updates.
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
Lawyers for the New York attorney general’s office are expected to appear in federal court in Albany on Thursday to try to disqualify a US attorney from investigating the state’s civil case against President Donald Trump.
A new poll shows more than 70% of Republicans with Obamacare coverage don’t want their enhanced premium subsidies to expire.
A safety volunteer accused of fatally shooting a man taking part in a “No Kings” protest last June in Salt Lake City while firing at another man he believed to be a potential mass shooter has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The specter of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown looms over the Somali diaspora in the Twin Cities – home to the nation’s largest Somali population.
Honduras’ former President Juan Orlando Hernández thanked US President Donald Trump for pardoning his US drug trafficking conviction amid criticism from lawmakers that the pardon undermines the White House’s efforts to stop drug trafficking.