Rep. Kevin Yoder signed off on transfer of funds from FEMA to ICE
Yoder's office says the money was from a fund that was about to expire
September 13, 2018
Micheal Mahoney
OPEKA, Kan. —
Johnson County, Kansas Congressman and Gubernatorial Candidate Kevin Yoder approved taking almost $10 million out of the Federal Emergency Management Association, FEMA, and transferring it to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.
Yoder chairs the subcommittee that handles the Homeland Security Department budget. FEMA is part of Homeland Security. So is ICE.
The FEMA money went to ICE for its detention and deportation operation.
Yoder controls the Homeland Security budget in the House.
West Virginia Senator Shelly Moore Capito does the same thing in the Senate.
They were the only lawmakers needed to sign off on the transfer, and this summer, they did.
A Department of Homeland Security request shows it's a transfer of $9.7 million.
The money went to ICE for detention and deportation operations.
Yoder was unavailable for an interview. His office says the money was from a fund that was about to expire - money for administration, not part of FEMA's big disaster relief fund.
In a news conference Thursday, officials with FEMA said the agency had plenty of resources to respond as Hurricane Florence threatens the east coast, and that this transfer of funds does not impact the agency's current situation.
Some critics think otherwise, and say some of the nearly $10 million sent to ICE comes from the Response and Recovery budgets, and the Operation and Support budgets.
FEMA does have a massive budget, and the transfer of $10 million to ICE is a relatively small amount. But this is in the news as FEMA is about to start helping people recover from Hurricane Florence.
https://www.kmbc.com/article/woman-m...overy/23120596
