As President Donald Trump blasted out lies about the Federal Emergency Management Agency giving money to undocumented immigrants after Hurricane Helene, advocates for immigrants shook their heads in disbelief.

The truth is that the federal government has long gone out of its way to block undocumented people from receiving help. Federal agencies are barred by law from giving them in-cash disaster aid. Time after time when a hurricane or wildfire hits, immigrants are left to fend for themselves.

Mutual aid groups have stepped in to fill the gap and, increasingly, they are pioneering a model where state governments distribute aid money through nonprofits.

With Hurricane Milton bearing down on Florida, which has 1.2 million undocumented immigrants, activists are questioning why the feds do so little to help the same immigrant communities that help to rebuild after storms.

Government, at all levels, should do more, said Democratic New York Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, who helped create a state-level fund for Hurricane Ida victims in her state.

“We are very well and OK as a society having people work for us in our farms, feeding us, making sure that we’re OK,” Cruz said. “But the minute a natural disaster destroys their lives, all of a sudden, we’re going to turn around and say, do you have papers?”

Trump’s Latest Lie

North Carolina residents were still searching for lost loved ones after Helene when Trump rolled out his latest lie at an October 3 rally: The Biden administration “stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.”

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