Congress Aims to Spend More on Removing Illegal Aliens and Less on Shelter and Services Program for Them
March 07, 2025
Over the last four years, an unrelenting flow of illegal aliens poured across our borders, emboldened by open-borders policies, the promise of taxpayer funded benefits, and a lengthy stay in the United States. During that time, the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) was one of the most notorious programs used by the previous administration to provide services for illegal aliens.
SSP – run through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – awarded grants to nonprofit organizations and state and local jurisdictions to aid illegal aliens who were released into the United States. In addition to providing shelter, SSP has been used to offer many other benefits, including food, transportation, medical services, clothes, and translation services. According to FEMA, SSP is part of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “commitment to bolster the capacity of states, localities, tribes and nonprofit organizations receiving noncitizen migrants.”
In reality, under the Biden administration, SSP was openly used to facilitate illegal immigration. In FY 2023, Congress appropriated $800 million to FEMA to “support sheltering and related activities provided by non-Federal entities, including facility improvements and construction, in support of relieving overcrowding in short-term holding facilities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.” Of that total, about $364 million went to SSP and another $333 million went to its predecessor program – the Emergency Food and Shelter Program-Humanitarian (EFSP-H) – which was in the process of being phased out. And in FY 2024, Congress appropriated an additional $650 million for SSP, sending funds to recipients in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Denver, Philadelphia, and New York City, as well as numerous non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
https://www.fairus.org/blog/2025/03/07/congress-aims-spend-more-removing-illegal-aliens-and-less-shelter-and-services
