Last weekend, Hurricane Florence slowly blew through the Carolinas, leaving behind a path of devastation that will result in months of rebuilding efforts. Coastal cities in North Carolina, including Wilmington and New Bern, were wrapt by flooding and a storm surge over five feet.
Amidst the chaos came a revelation the Trump administration had misappropriated $9,755,303 from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This move occurred this summer after President Trump had ICE initiate a zero tolerance policy for people crossing the border from Mexico, causing the number of ICE detainees to skyrocket as it began to include children traveling with their parents and people seeking asylum. The transfer was discovered by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) through budget documents released by the Department of Homeland Security.
Though it is common for the government to deploy interdepartmental transfers to redirect funds toward resource hungry projects, the timing of this revelation considered along with the already controversial zero-tolerance policy makes it especially heinous.
First of all, Trump's incredibly immoral and unacceptable zero tolerance policy is an insult to the very ideals of the American Experiment; America's shores are a beacon of hope, a symbol of freedom and democracy, an invitation to all to join in the bounty and beauty of this great land. Turning away people, human beings just like us, refugees and asylum seekers, even those simply looking to build a better life under the great banner of our nation, is reprehensible and a poor reflection of the principles of our democracy.
Secondly, this zero-tolerance policy is an incredibly pointless drain on the valuable and limited resources of the government; aside from FEMA, funds were also transferred from the Transportation Safety Administration and the US Coast Guard, the latter of which plays a vital role in disaster relief and rescues. It is completely reprehensible and unacceptable for the Trump administration to have done this and to have tried to hide it from the public.
The devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Florence will mean spending tremendous effort and resources to return the coast to its former state, and with this transfer of money to fund imprisoning children, there are fewer resources to dedicate to the recovery effort. We cannot allow this administration to avoid consequences for such a contemptible and deplorable policy which stole funding from other important agencies and led to the unacceptable detainment of children who were separated from their parents, that is not what our country represents and should not be the example we set for the rest of the world.
