FEMA’s relief efforts in North Carolina have become a political flashpoint
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has accused US President Joe Biden’s administration of “actively blocking” the supply of Starlink internet terminals and critical aid to areas of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene. The administration has dismissed those claims as false.
Hurricane Helene tore through the American southeast last week, killing more than 225 people and leaving hundreds unaccounted for. The damage was particularly severe in Georgia and western North Carolina, where bridges were washed away and tens of thousands of people are still without running water, power, and cellphone service.
During a visit to Georgia on Monday, former US President Donald Trump said that he had been in touch with Musk, who would be delivering Starlink internet terminals to affected areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also said in a press release that it would be distributing Starlink terminals to local authorities.
On Friday, however, Musk claimed on his X platform that FEMA “is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!”
Citing a SpaceX engineer in North Carolina, Musk claimed that FEMA personnel are confiscating Starlink terminals and other supplies arriving in the state. In a follow-up post, the billionaire shared text messages from the engineer, who alleged that the agency had “shut down the airspace to ‘regulate’ the private choppers we are riding in to deliver Starlink and supplies.”
SpaceX engineers are trying to deliver Starlink terminals & supplies to devastated areas in North Carolina right now and @FEMA is both failing to help AND won’t let others help. This is unconscionable!!
Replying to Musk’s post, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that “no one is shutting down the airspace and [the Federal Aviation Administration] doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights.”
“If you’re encountering a problem give me a call,” Buttigieg added.
The issue was apparently resolved late on Friday night, with Musk replying to thank Buttigieg and announce that “support flights are underway.”
Republican politicians and conservative pundits have accused the Biden administration of slow-walking relief to western North Carolina due to the fact that the region’s predominantly white population overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. Trump visited Georgia and North Carolina before Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week, and claimed at a rally on Friday that “a lot of the money that was supposed to go to Georgia and supposed to go to North Carolina” had been spent on “people that came into the country illegally.”
After FEMA spent $640 million on housing for illegal immigrants over the last fiscal year, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Wednesday that the agency does not have enough money to make it through the rest of hurricane season, which typically runs until early December. However, the $640 million spent on illegal immigrants was not drawn from FEMA’s disaster relief fund, but from a separate fund authorized by Congress.
As of Friday, FEMA had spent $45 million on relief efforts following Hurricane Helene, or 14 times less than it spent housing illegal immigrants last year, according to a White House statement.