North Carolina visit frames FEMA push and immigration enforcement shift
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin toured parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene in 2024, using the trip to lay out what he said would be a faster path for federal disaster relief as FEMA works to process remaining needs. Speaking at a roundtable discussion during the trip, Mullin said disasters happen constantly and that his department would press forward on pending disaster requests while FEMA worked through a backlog of disaster assistance needs ahead of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Mullin said FEMA was focused on catching up on past disaster work and clearing a backlog that he described as having stacked up during the tenure of his predecessor, Kristi Noem, ahead of the June 1 start of the season. He said he would brief President Donald Trump on Tuesday about 22 still pending major disaster declaration requests from states and tribes across the country and that the administration was trying to push decisions and approvals forward “as fast as possible,” according to his comments at the roundtable.
The trip also served to signal a broader management shift inside the Department of Homeland Security, following a change in policy that critics had said slowed disaster reimbursements. Mullin’s visit came less than a week after DHS ended Noem’s directive requiring DHS expenditures over $100,000 to receive personal approval from the secretary’s office, a rule critics said created bottlenecks for FEMA reimbursements and could compromise disaster response and recovery.
In North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene still left visible damage, the administration’s promise of speed carried heightened political weight. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein sent Mullin a letter after his swearing-in saying the state had about $1.6 billion in FEMA public assistance dollars obligated so far and that roughly 2,000 projects were still in some stage of FEMA approval, according to the Associated Press. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican who is retiring, had criticized Noem in recent days for delays in reimbursements, telling a Senate hearing she had “failed” at FEMA.
Mullin told the roundtable that Trump had asked him to stop in North Carolina first and said Trump told him “people in North Carolina love me.” The visit comes with North Carolina’s political significance elevated in the state’s 2026 contest, with Tillis’s retirement raising Democratic hopes of a pickup this fall. The race pits Democrat Roy Cooper, a former governor, against Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee.
While Mullin’s remarks emphasized disaster management, he also addressed immigration enforcement, a centerpiece policy of the Trump administration that his department oversees. Mullin suggested he might halt customs processing at airports serving cities whose local governments resist the administration’s immigration policies, a stance he said could be raised in his briefing to Trump. He said, “If they’re not enforcing immigration laws, then why would I be processing immigration in their city?” and he added that the idea was still under consideration.
Mullin declined to provide additional details about how such a move would be carried out. But the Associated Press noted that withdrawing CBP officers from airports could disrupt international travel and trade, since CBP officers process incoming travelers and help oversee trade that enters through land crossings and airports. The Trump administration has also threatened to withdraw funding from Democratic cities and states it says do not cooperate with immigration enforcement.
North Carolina’s recovery context also included disputes and misinformation that shaped early perceptions of FEMA’s response. Rep. Chuck Edwards, a Republican whose district includes parts of the storm’s impact area and who said he lost a business in the storm, described frustration with what he called FEMA’s “bureaucracy” and said he praised Mullin for removing the $100,000 approval rule. The Associated Press reported that Edwards said he had spent time debunking FEMA-related misinformation shortly after the storm, issuing a statement to constituents denying FEMA was diverting donations to the border or seizing property, among other claims.
Edwards’s remarks and other accounts of the response pointed to tensions that developed as the storm receded. The Associated Press reported that after an armed man was arrested in Lake Lure for making threats toward FEMA workers, the agency temporarily suspended door-to-door home visits in the affected areas. Stein, a Democrat, welcomed Mullin’s visit, saying in a statement to the Associated Press that it was encouraging Mullin was “getting down to business.”
Mullin’s comments drew a sharp contrast from Noem, who repeatedly called for FEMA to be eliminated “as it exists today.” The Associated Press also reported that Trump floated the idea of eliminating FEMA altogether on a North Carolina visit just days into his second term, calling the agency a “very big disappointment.” The Associated Press reported that a presidentially appointed FEMA Review Council is expected to soon release a report recommending reforms to how the federal government supports disaster-impacted communities.
Even as Mullin promised a different approach to FEMA management, the Associated Press noted operational constraints affecting the agency. It reported that while most FEMA staff are still being paid during a record-long partial government shutdown, many offices were ordered to slow or stop work shortly after the shutdown began on Feb. 14. It also reported that the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund was running low, with about $3.6 billion remaining, and that a DHS appropriations bill would replenish the fund with over $26 billion.
The Associated Press said that on Monday, FEMA approved $26 million in buyouts of damaged and destroyed North Carolina homes, and that in a statement FEMA said Mullin encouraged it to “redouble its efforts” to help survivors.