DHS juggles 'mass deportation' push with Helene relief, adds $124M after Biden backlash

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The Department of Homeland Security released a second round of August funding for Hurricane Helene relief this week, even as the agency directs increased resources toward President Donald Trump's "mass deportation" framework.

Secretary Kristi Noem's latest $28 million allocation formally offered Sunday brings the month's total to $124 million in funds from FEMA, which sits within DHS, for the deadly Category 4 hurricane that made landfall in Florida's Big Bend and devastated the Smokies.

The funding will go to road repairs and critical infrastructure restoration - which is especially needed in North Carolina and Tennessee.

In that regard, a crucial stretch of Interstate 40 washed into the Pigeon River near that state line -- cutting off the lone major trucking route over the mountains, as large vehicles are prohibited on Tail of the Dragon and other regional crossings.

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FEMA funds have also been allocated to debris removal and "life and property" concerns.

"North Carolina families suffering from this unimaginable tragedy were cruelly ignored by the Biden administration," Noem deputy Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. 

"Under President Trump and Secretary Noem's leadership, FEMA is moving faster than ever before to get Americans the relief they need. This move to continue supporting North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene is a testament to that fact."

Trump lambasted former President Joe Biden's initial response to Helene, claiming he "didn't like reports that [he was] getting about the federal government."

Trump alleged that more conservative areas - of which the western half of North Carolina has many, with the notable exception of Asheville - were wrongly being underserved by the feds.

Biden, however, rejected the claim, cutting off a reporter who asked him about it at the time.

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"He's lying, and the governor told him he was lying. I've spoken to the governor. I spent time with him and he told me [Trump is] lying. I don't know why he does this," said Biden, who had recently spoken with then-North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp around that time.

Republicans also lambasted then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas when he claimed FEMA was running out of funds amid allegations the agency spent large sums on the migrant crisis, according to the New York Post.

However, Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who represents a swath of storm-ravaged communities, said in a "fact-check" on his congressional website that FEMA did not divert any disaster response to the border or to foreign aid.

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"FEMA's non-disaster-related presence at the border has always been of major concern to me, even before Hurricane Helene, and I will continue to condemn their deployment of personnel to the southern border, but we must separate the two issues," Edwards said, while adding that the agency informed him they had enough money for recovery needs.

"Secretary Mayorkas' statement indicating otherwise was an irresponsible attempt to politicize a tragedy for personal gain," Edwards said.

Trump later told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that Biden's response to Helene was worse than what followed Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Then-President George W. Bush was memorably lambasted for praising then-FEMA Director Michael Brown's response - remarking "Brownie, you're doing a heckuva job," Bush said while surveying recovery efforts in Mobile.