Trump officials defend the decision to send FEMA funds to ICE before Hurricane Dorian

Trump administration officials said Sunday that the transfer of $ 155 million from the disaster relief fund of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Immigration and to The application of customs rules would not affect the federal government's ability to cope with Hurricane Dorian, a massive storm headed for the east coast of the country.

As NBC News reported last week, the Department of Homeland Security informed Congress in July that to increase funding for refugee claimant hearings, FEMA would transfer $ 155 million to ICE.

In an interview with "This Week" on ABC, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan said, "No money has been transferred yet."

"No potential transfer will affect our ability to respond to this storm or any other storm for the remainder of the hurricane season," he said. "The Disaster Recovery Fund has two different components: The Major Disaster Fund contains $ 25 billion, so a $ 155 million transfer from the core fund will not affect our ability to respond and recover from a major disaster. . "

McAleenan said his agency "needed this funding for immigration and customs control in order to respond to the ongoing humanitarian and border security crisis at the border."

"The Congress has not seen fit to provide this funding," he added. "We must therefore examine the ministerial sources with limited impact, but also supporting the ongoing management of this crisis."

Pete Gaynor, acting administrator of FEMA, told "Fox News Sunday" that the agency had "a lot of money and resources to deal with the disasters and recoveries of 2017 and 2018 and to include a response in 2019, this season ".

"We live with risks every day," he said, adding that "we estimate that $ 155 million is a low risk and does not affect our readiness for Dorian."

Dorian strengthened Sunday's position against a "catastrophic" Category 5 storm as it approached the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center announced. Michael Lowry, a strategic planner with FEMA, tweeted the storm is now one of the seven strongest ever recorded, dating back to the 1850s. Forecasters have said that the storm should approach Florida but touch Georgia and the Carolinas.

Speaking to reporters outside Marine One on Sunday, Trump said the storm "seems to be bigger than ever.

"That's the problem," said Trump. "We do not know where he's going to hit, he seems to be going to Florida, now he should go to Georgia, in the Carolinas.Alabama should be a little bit weaker.You will probably learn more during the course of the next 24 hours . "

The reason why Trump referred to Alabama, which is not in the expected trajectory of the hurricane, was unclear. The National Weather Service of Birmingham, Alabama, tweeted Sunday morning: "Alabama will see no impact from #Dorian. "

"We repeat, no impact of the hurricane #Dorian will be felt across Alabama ", the NWS added. "The system will stay too far to the east."

Speaking in front of FEMA headquarters Sunday, Trump urged "everyone on the way to Hurricane Dorian to consider all the local authorities' warnings and evacuation orders" while the storm intensifies.

"We do not even know what lies ahead," he said. "I'm not sure I've ever heard of a category 5, I knew it existed, and I've seen categories 4, but you do not even see them so much." But that one category 5 do not even know that I've heard the term otherwise than I know it's there. "

Dorian is the fourth category 5 storm to have hit the Atlantic during the Trump presidency, following hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and Michael in 2018.

Expressing with CBS's "Face the Nation", the former representative of Beto O. Rourke, D-Texas and Democratic presidential candidate of 2020, said "really disappointed" that Trump proposed to take money at FEMA in the middle of the hurricane season. or cages or militarization of the border we do not need. "

"As president, I would fully fund FEMA," he said. "I would invest in the resilience of the communities of Florida and Georgia, the Carolinas and Puerto Rico to make sure that they are ready for the next storm because scientists have told us that these storms will only become more frequent, more devastating and more deadly as the climate continues to change. "

Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Spoke of a correlation between climate change and more violent hurricanes.

"Well, first of all, we know that the climate is changing and then we know that our storms seem to be worsening," Scott said, adding, "We do not know what is the cause, but we must react to it. "