FEMA Suspends Emergency Preparedness Funds Until Population Counts Are Updated

More than two million illegal immigrants have been deported or self-deported since Trump’s second term began in January.

A resident enters a FEMA's improvised station to attend claims by local residents affected by floods following the passing of Hurricane Helene, in Marion, N.C., on Oct. 5, 2024. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced on Oct. 3 that it stopped distributing emergency preparedness funds to states until they update their populations in the wake of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Called emergency management performance grants, these funds “assist state, local, tribal and territorial emergency management agencies to implement the National Preparedness System and the National Preparedness Goal of a secure and resilient nation,” according to FEMA’s website. Nearly $320 million was allocated to them for fiscal year 2025, with priorities being extreme weather resilience and readiness.

However, nearly all of the allocated funds are distributed based on population data. FEMA has raised concerns about what it called inflated payments, and a spokesperson said on Oct. 3 that the deportation of illegal immigrants, as well as other recent population shifts, have triggered a need for that population data to be updated to ensure proper distribution.

The spokesperson also clarified that this suspension concerns the entire country and its territories and was not related to the recent ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily blocking the Trump administration from cutting $233 million in grant funds for Democratic-led states.

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Sept. 23 that more than two million illegal immigrants have already been deported since Trump’s second term began. Of that total, an estimated 1.6 million illegal immigrants voluntarily self-deported using the Customs and Border Protection Home App, and more than 400,000 were removed. An additional more than 400 were apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Central Florida alone on Sept. 30.

President Donald Trump ordered the Commerce Department to start a new census in August that excludes illegal immigrants, which would not just remove illegal immigrants from FEMA’s population data, but also ensure they are not counted in state populations that determine election-related items such as electoral votes and the number of congressional seats.

The Trump administration remains committed to its immigration enforcement, with a particular focus on apprehending those associated with drug and human trafficking, and violent crimes such as murder and assault.

“This administration is always going to arrest and deport illegal immigrants when we find them,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Oct. 3. “If they are criminals, we’re going to do the right thing by our country.”

FEMA also remains affected by the ongoing government shutdown, posting on its website, “Some non-disaster assistance transactions submitted via the website may not be processed or responded to until after appropriations are enacted.”

Stuart Liess, Aldgra Fredly, and Reuters contributed to this report.