During an interview with CBS News on Thursday, Yuma, AZ Mayor Douglas Nicholls stated that he has repeatedly asked the Biden administration to activate FEMA to help cities along the border, but they won’t for political reasons.
Nicholls said, “[R]eally and truly we’ve needed, and [I] really have asked for deliberately, several times, is FEMA to step in. This is not something cities are geared to handle. We don’t feed people. We don’t house people. Guess who does? FEMA does. They house in emergency situations, they feed in emergency situations. And that’s exactly what we’re facing. So, it’s confusing to me and to most people along the border why the federal government wouldn’t activate FEMA in that role here, along the border.”
He added that activating FEMA has “gotten some discussion when I’m in the room. But I don’t think it gets much discussion when I’m not.”
Nicholls further stated, “I think a lot of it has to do with perspective, which, unfortunately, comes down to a political tug of war. The laws that are on the books today are the same laws that have been on the books for decades. Yes, they need updating, but every administration — President Obama, President Trump — all of them have been able to create policies that have been effective under these current laws. I don’t believe this administration has gone that way. And if they would go that way, they would recognize the first thing they need to do is declare some sort of emergency situation where you can activate FEMA. And that wouldn’t be a question, it would just happen.”
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