By Noah Patton, NLIHC Director of Disaster Recovery and Oliver Porter, NLIHC DHR Intern
Last week, Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition member Extreme Weather Survivors, NLIHC, and nearly 100 other disaster, housing, and environmental justice organizations sent a sign-on letter to Senate Democratic leadership urging Congress to avoid letting concerns over the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stall negotiations over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding and reforms. NLIHC and the DHRC support reforming DHS to address abuses of power by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) taking place in Minneapolis and other communities around the country.
The letter reiterates that FEMA funding is currently adequate to address ongoing disasters and calls on legislators to: 1) halt additional funding to ICE and CBP; 2) pass a supplemental spending bill that provides future funds for FEMA and HUD long-term recovery programs; and 3) work to separate FEMA from DHS.
The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) is a group of over 900 local, state, and national organizations working to ensure that all disaster survivors receive the assistance they need to fully recover. DHRC members have been working to pass the “Fixing Emergency Management for Americans (FEMA) Act,” a bipartisan bill to remove FEMA from DHS and institute common-sense reforms to improve the agency’s programs.
While most government agency funds have been appropriated in recent weeks, appropriations for DHS for fiscal year (FY) 2026 have not been approved by Congress. Thanks in part to advocacy by Extreme Weather Survivors Action Fund and DHRC members, Sen. Fetterman (D-PA) was the only Democrat to vote in favor of a Senate resolution funding DHS for a year before Congress.
After the failure of that vote, a continuing resolution that would have extended the agency’s funding expired on February 14, causing a partial government shutdown. The shutdown affects DHS and its agencies, including ICE, FEMA, TSA, and the Coast Guard. Many of these agencies’ personnel are classified as essential, so agency functions will largely continue as before. However, the lapse in funding does provide leverage for broader negotiations around major changes to how ICE and CBP execute enforcement actions—perhaps leading to significant reforms.
NLIHC’s DHRC and its members will continue to support the work of our immigration justice partners as the situation progresses.