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How a lie about immigrants and FEMA disaster aid spread across Fox News

Fox’s Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity spread the lie on 5 and 6 straight broadcasts, respectively. Many shows on the network joined in to push similar claims at least once since October 3.

Written by Helena Hind & Alicia Sadowski

Published 10/11/24 mma

Amid the right-wing media onslaught of hurricane-related misinformation, Fox News has latched onto the false claim that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s relief funds for hurricane victims have been drained by aid to undocumented immigrants. In reality, the funding is separate and unrelated.

Top-rated hosts Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity led the charge in repeating the false claim; Watters’ prime-time show repeated the lie in 5 consecutive broadcasts starting October 3, and Hannity managed 6.

Even though a Fox reporter obtained evidence debunking the lie, the narrative spread to the majority of the network’s opinion and “straight news” programs.

FEMA’s disaster relief fund has nothing to do with immigrant aid — and Fox knows it

FEMA maintains separate funds for disaster relief and aid for immigrants. As a FEMA spokesperson explained, “The Shelter and Services Program (SSP) is a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress and is not associated in any way with FEMA's disaster-related authorities or funding streams." Newsweek, [10/4/24]

- Donald Trump alleged that the Biden administration “stole the FEMA money” for undocumented immigrants during an October 3 campaign rally, prompting a fact check from FEMA. An October 3 entry in FEMA’s “Hurricane Rumor Response” page explained: “FEMA’s disaster response efforts and individual assistance is funded through the Disaster Relief Fund, which is a dedicated fund for disaster efforts. Disaster Relief Fund money has not been diverted to other, non-disaster related efforts.” The Daily Beast, [10/3/24; Federal Emergency Management Agency, 10/3/24]

- Fox News knows that FEMA disaster money is not going towards aid to undocumented immigrants. On October 8, senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram posted on X that Fox News obtained a GOP memo saying there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. When Pergram appeared on the network after posting about the memo, he failed to discuss the part of the document that debunks the lie that the federal government spent disaster relief funds on migrant aid. . Media Matters, [10/10/24, 10/9/24, 10/9/24]

### Jesse Watters's Fox show repeated the false claim in 5 consecutive broadcasts

Watters first repeated the smear on the October 3 edition of his eponymous show, saying “the Biden-Harris administration spent a billion dollars of FEMA money on illegal aliens,” without providing context about the separate funds. Watters continued, “When American citizens, the ones who were born here and pay taxes, deserve help, Biden and Harris are saying, ‘Ah, sorry, we gave it all away to the people who broke into the country.’” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/3/24]

- The next day, after FEMA published a fact-check debunking the claim on its webpage, Watters repeated the lie: “After blowing a billion dollars on migrants and with Mayorkas saying they ran out of money, FEMA clearly has been mismanaged, either through corruption or incompetence.” Watters then called for the immediate firing of FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/4/24; FEMA, 10/3/24]

Watters doubled down the next Monday, October 7: “FEMA’s broke. … Where’d the money go? More than a billion dollars went to welcoming Biden's migrants.” Watters also said that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “lied” after she debunked the claim on October 4. Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/7/24]

- On October 8, during a segment criticizing Vice President Kamala Harris’ approach to Hurricane Milton relief, Watters’ guest Stephen Miller accused Harris of “divert[ing] all the FEMA funds to illegal aliens.” Miller ranted, “Now FEMA is broke, they can't help Americans. Why? Because Kamala cares about illegals more.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/8/24]

* As Hurricane Milton made landfall on October 9, Watters doubled down again: “Mayorkas said FEMA was going to run out of money for hurricane season. And FEMA admitted they wasted a billion on migrants. Now, I'm not great at math… but if you spend too much money on one thing and don't have enough money for another thing, that means you messed up.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [10/9/24]

* ### Sean Hannity repeated the lie in 6 consecutive broadcasts of his Fox News show

Hannity began repeating the lie on his prime-time show on October 3, alleging the Biden administration “took over $1 billion of FEMA funds supposed to be available for national emergencies to help you, the American people, … and they spent all of that money on their 11.5 million unvetted illegal immigrants from over 180 other countries.” Hannity falsely claimed disaster money was used for “free food, housing, health care, education, sex change surgeries, debit cards, four-star hotels for illegal immigrants.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/3/24]

- The next day, Hannity lamented that FEMA is “taking money for Americans and giving it to their illegal immigrants that they are obsessed with.” He added, “It is unconscionable. It is soulless,” and maintained that FEMA “should be focused on emergency management, not illegal immigration.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/4/24]

- The following Monday, October 7, Hannity persisted with the smear, saying that FEMA is “bankrupt” because “over a billion dollars went to Harris-Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/7/24]

- On October 8, Hannity demanded that the Biden administration “not steal the money from FEMA and give it to your unvetted illegal immigrants from 180 countries, because their illegal immigrants seem to be prioritized that are way more important than the American people.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/8/24]

- On October 9, Hannity complained that “the agency distributed more than a billion dollars to house and feed Harris and Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” “Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas said, ‘Yeah, FEMA is apparently in shambles financially and we probably don't have enough money for hurricane season,’” Hannity ranted. “Then, we discovered on FEMA’s own website that the agency distributed more than a billion dollars to house and feed Harris and Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/9/24]

- On October 10, Hannity continued to claim that at FEMA, “over a billion dollars was diverted to help their unvetted illegal immigrants.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [10/10/24]

### After Watters and Hannity seeded the lie, the narrative then spread onto Fox’s opinion programming

On Fox & Friends First, former NFL player and conservative activist Jack Brewer cited “FEMA money going to illegal immigrants” as a reason that the Biden-Harris administration has to change the “way that we deal with natural disasters.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends First*, [10/8/24]

- While discussing Hurricane Helene relief, Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy attacked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for allegedly having “millions and millions and millions of dollars” and choosing to spend the money not on Americans, but on “processing people who are in this country illegally.” Co-host Ainsley Earhardt responded that the money should instead “go toward these American families that have lost everything.” Doocy suggested the Biden administration should remedy the budget crisis by announcing a “pause on all the people coming into the country illegally” and should instead “reprogram that money to take care of the people here in the United States.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [10/3/24]

Outnumbered* co-host Kayleigh McEnany falsely claimed that the “reason why” FEMA was facing a budget shortfall was because the agency spent “almost a billion dollars” on “illegal immigrants in migrant shelters.” Emily Compagno reiterated the sentiment by alleging that the “federal government wasted the taxpayer money that these Americans invested” and that Americans were entitled to the money over undocumented immigrants. “FEMA's funds are their funds that they paid into, that they are now being withheld from to pay for illegal migrants,” she complained. Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [10/4/24]

- The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld used a false analogy to compare FEMA funding to a bank account to allege aid to undocumented immigrants was taken at the expense of disaster relief aid: “It’s all the same thing. So, if you've got to spend money here, it is going to be taken away from here.” He asked, “Why do Americans have to wait in line for the stuff they pay for?” Fox News, *The Five*, [10/9/24]

* Laura Ingraham stated that “Democrats are prioritizing the needs of noncitizens … ahead of the people that our leaders are supposed to be serving.” Ingraham called the allocation of money for undocumented immigrant aid “disgraceful” and claimed it resulted in Americans facing inflation and debt to “give gobs of money to liberal special interests.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [10/3/24]

- Repeat Gutfeld! guest and antisemitic right-wing media personality Bryan Sharpe complained The New York Times was not addressing “FEMA not having money because they spent it on illegal migrants” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*, [10/8/24; Media Matters, 9/9/22, 10/3/23]

### Some of the network’s “straight news” programs spread the narrative or failed to contextualize FEMA appropriations for undocumented aid

Fox anchor Dana Perino highlighted DHS Secretary Mayorkas’ “warning” that “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through hurricane season” despite “Mayorkas' DHS having $640 million — now that’s designated money — to help communities support illegal migrants.” Fox correspondent Chad Pergram took the blame off Congress: “Congress made sure FEMA had more than $20 billion in last week's emergency spending bill ahead of the storm.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [10/3/24]

- Even though the Shelter and Services Program is distinct from FEMA’s disaster response, Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway said that “they want us to believe that that’s not so and those funds wouldn't be fungible anyway.” Fox News, *The Faulkner Focus*, [10/9/24; Media Matters, 10/9/24]

Fox anchor John Roberts}: asked why the federal government did not use the $66 billion FEMA spent “taking care of the illegal immigration problem” to pay for hurricane relief. Fox News, *America Reports*, [10/3/24]|

- Former Vivek Ramaswamy communications director Tricia McLaughlin claimed, “We know that $670 million have gone to efforts under FEMA's umbrella to house migrants.” She asked, “Why is the focus on noncitizens in this country and not on the recovery efforts for Americans?” Fox News, *Fox News @ Night*, [10/9/24]

===

Fox knows it’s lying about immigrants and disaster aid

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 10/10/24 mma

Fox News hosts and anchors have in hand evidence that their network obtained from a Republican source debunking a falsehood the network has repeatedly promoted about the Hurricane Helene response. They do not care — and are in many cases continuing to push the same lie — because they work for a propaganda outlet whose primary objective is helping former President Donald Trump return to the White House.

Fox chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram landed a big scoop on Tuesday night, posting to X about how he had “obtained a fact sheet assembled by the majority side of [the] House Appropriations Committee about disaster aid” for Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.

He keyed in on the fact sheet’s statements about aid to immigrants, writing: “It also declares there is ‘no funding connection between’ the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. It adds there is ‘no intermingling of funding between these two programs.’ It adds that ‘the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.’”

This is important because Trump had repeatedly tried to link the programs for his own political gain, claiming that there was no money for hurricane disaster aid because President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had spent it all on helping immigrants — and Fox’s propagandists and the rest of the Trumpist media chimed in. The Biden administration and mainstream news outlets had debunked these lies, but Pergram’s scoop revealed that House Republicans — a source Fox viewers would be more likely to trust — knew they were false.

Fox’s response over the 24 hours after Pergram posted about the fact sheet provides an instructive case study about how the network functions:

On Wednesday morning, Fox News continued to push the falsehood on Fox & Friends, with contributor Miranda Devine claiming that “FEMA was handing out money to illegal migrants instead of keeping it for hurricane victims.”

At around the same time on Fox Business, anchor Maria Bartiromo appeared to reference the House Republican memo Pergram obtained — but only to attack it, asking House Appropriations Committee member Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) whether his colleagues were “lying” (“It’s all FEMA money,” he replied in part).

Pergram did not appear on either network until the lower-rated midday programs — and his packaged report did not address the immigrant funding misinformation that Fox had spread.

On The Five, Jessica Tarlov and Jeanine Pirro sparred inconclusively without mentioning the GOP fact sheet over whether Trump’s claims about disaster aid money going to immigrants was a lie. Jesse Watters ended the discussion by telling Tarlov, “Americans are dying and you're talking about Donald Trump.”

9. That evening on Fox’s flagship “news” show, Special Report anchor Bret Baier did not reference the GOP fact sheet but mentioned in passing that there has been a “back and forth about FEMA money going to immigrants, there is a pot, it’s just different than the disaster pot where the money comes from.”

The network’s high-rated evening Trumpist propagandists all continued to claim money that should have gone to disaster aid went instead to migrants on Wednesday night. Laura Ingraham claimed FEMA money had gone to “sheltering migrants” that “should be spent and allocated to shoring up disaster management for Americans, not on illegal aliens.” Watters claimed that “FEMA admitted they wasted a billion on migrants” and that the agency had been “leaving Americans hanging, but bending over backwards to help foreigners who broke into the country.” And Sean Hannity **said the Biden administration claimed to be running out of funds for disaster aid after FEMA “distributed more than a billion dollars to house and feed Harris and Biden unvetted illegal immigrants.”

A real news outlet would want to get that information out to ensure that its audience knew the facts. But Fox is a Trumpist propaganda outlet, and they acted instead to reinforce the right-wing media bubble that keeps their viewers from the truth.

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mma 10 24

Fox News senior congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has yet to appear on the network to discuss his big Tuesday night scoop: A fact sheet authored by House Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee which he obtained reveals that Fox and Republicans have been pushing false claims about the federal response to Hurricane Helene.

Pergram posted to X at 9:36 p.m. ET on October 8:

Fox has obtained a fact sheet assembled by the majority side of House Appropriations Committee about disaster aid.

It says that FEMA “has enough funding in the short-term to address immediate needs for both Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.”

It also declares there is “no funding connection between” the migrant shelter program and the Disaster Relief Fund. It adds there is “no intermingling of funding between these two programs.” It adds that “the only connection is that both programs are administered by FEMA.”

The fact sheet as Pergram reported it amounts to a damning repudiation of former President Donald Trump’s lies about the federal response. On the campaign trail, Trump has falsely claimed that 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,” and that Vice President Kamala Harris spent “all her FEMA money” housing immigrants.

Trump's strategy of grievance-mongering for political gain relies on the impermeable echo chamber created by his propagandists at Pergram’s network and elsewhere. They have spent the last week eagerly peddling the same lies about Democrats looting disaster aid to help immigrants.

“FEMA is running low on funds because they’re blowing it all on illegals,” star host Jesse Watters claimed. According to Laura Ingraham, “Democrats are prioritizing the needs of noncitizens, and now we learn many of them are violent, depraved criminals.”

Pergram’s scoop has not changed the trajectory of Fox’s coverage. On Wednesday morning, Fox contributor Miranda Devine told the hosts of Fox & Friends that “FEMA was handing out money to illegal migrants instead of keeping it for hurricane victims.” Meanwhile, at around the same time on Fox Business, anchor Maria Bartiromo did appear to reference the House Republican memo Pergram obtained — but only to attack it, questioning whether they were “lying.”

But Pergram has not appeared on Fox to discuss his story — which shows House Republicans trying to swat down such claims — as of publication time.

Fox “news side” figures like Pergram give Fox the appearance of a real news operation rather than a corrupt propaganda machine, but in practice the network downplays major stories they break if those stories are bad for Trump or the GOP.

Media Matters will update this post if the network allows Pergram on the air to tell its viewers the truth.

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