It was shockingly announced this week that while the Biden-Harris Federal Emergency Management Agency likely had sufficient funds to meet the immediate needs of Americans impacted by Hurricane Helene's deadly devastation, it likely lacked the funds to adequately respond to any additional emergencies or natural disasters that may occur.

That frank admission sparked controversy in light of revelations that FEMA-administered programs have spent around $1 billion over the past two years to take care of illegal migrants rather than allocate it for inevitable disaster relief needs, according to The Federalist.

The controversy has resulted in furious accusations against the Biden-Harris administration countered by feisty pushback from the administration and its media defenders with "fact-check" articles that acknowledge the dubious allocation of federal funding but justify it by nitpicking the details.

Mayorkas admits FEMA lacks funding to address additional emergencies

The issue exploded on Wednesday when Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said during a press gaggle on board Air Force One, "We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds. FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the season and what -- what is imminent."

That statement came in response to a question about President Joe Biden's call for Congress to reconvene and pass additional emergency funding for FEMA to address the admitted shortfall.

When pressed about whether Congress, which is in recess until after November's elections, should return to Washington D.C., Mayorkas replied that he would defer to the president in that regard and added, "But we have, of course, made a significant request of Congress with respect to stable funding for the Federal Emergency Management Administration, which should not be a political issue. This is something that Americans need desperately."

Funding for illegal migrants but not citizens facing natural disasters

The New York Post reported that many Republicans and other critics of the Biden-Harris administration were enraged at the admission that FEMA lacks sufficient funding to address any additional disasters that may occur, particularly in light of the revelation that around $1 billion in FEMA-administered funds were spent supporting the needs of illegal migrants over the past couple of years.

That funding was part of what is known as the Shelter and Services Program, in which FEMA draws funding from DHS but, rather than use those funds to prepare for emergency disaster relief -- supposedly the agency's primary purpose of existence -- the funds were instead reallocated to various non-federal entities at the state and local and private levels to meet the needs of the millions of illegal migrants who've entered the country through the administration's porous borders.

Republicans and other critics asserted that the funds should have never been spent caring for migrants who shouldn't even be here and should instead have been earmarked and saved to address inevitable emergency relief efforts.

Meanwhile, defenders of the administration have pushed back and insisted that the program for migrants was specifically authorized and funded by Congress and the funds couldn't be spent on anything else, including disaster relief.

FEMA's focus is all wrong under the Biden-Harris administration

The problem here, per The Federalist, appears to be a fundamental change in the focus of FEMA away from what its primary purpose is -- managing emergencies like natural disasters, such as a massive hurricane that caused devastating flooding in multiple states and wiped away entire communities.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, however, disaster preparedness and relief is not the top priority, as the agency is instead focused first on creating "equity as a foundation of emergency management" and, second, leading communities to "climate resilience," with preparedness apparently ranking a distant third on the priority list.

Unfortunately for the residents of Appalachia who are now homeless and searching for missing loved ones, "equity" and "climate resilience" and financial support for illegal migrants do nothing to help them recover from the vast destruction that has upended their lives.

Furthermore, adding insult to injury, while $1 billion that should have been allocated for disaster relief was instead doled out in the thousands and millions to aid illegal migrants, the victims of Helene are supposed to be content with $750 checks from FEMA to buy groceries -- that they will presumably store in their flooded out or non-existent homes?