CHIMNEY ROCK, N.C. (828newsNOW) — United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in his first official trip since taking the cabinet position on March 24, visited Chimney Rock and Lake Lure, N.C., assessing damage from Tropical Storm Helene and speaking to local leaders about the Federal Emergency Management Agency, regional recovery and immigration policy.
Mulling over FEMA with Secretary Mullin
Mullin was joined by U.S. Senator Ted Budd, U.S. Congressman Chuck Edwards and U.S. Congressman Tim Moore in a trip which began lakeside near Lake Lure Town Hall, continued to the riverbed at the temporary entrance of Chimney Rock State Park, wound through businesses in the Chimney Rock Village and finished with a round table discussion at Chimney Rock Volunteer Fire Department.
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During his visit, Mullin met with Chimney Rock and Lake Lure figures like Peter O’Leary, mayor of Chimney Rock, Steve Freeman, fire chief of Bat Cave Fire Department, and Chris Melton, fire chief of the CRVFD. Other politicians and leaders at the round table discussion included N.C. Senator Tim Moffitt, Henderson County Manager John Mitchell and David DiOrio, Mayor Pro Tem of Lake Lure.
The bulk of the round table talk was devoted to Mullin taking questions about the future of FEMA and continued funding for Helene recovery projects. These exchanges ranged from emotional anecdotes about the storm to sharp queries about policy and immigration.
In an instance of the former, Mullin asked Melton about a wrinkled, tattered American flag hanging on the wall of the fire station.
“I haven’t brought that flag out until yesterday. That was in my office, and one of our Lake Lure police officers, coming up to me, said that he found it in the water, in the river,” Melton explained, tearing up. “And he couldn’t think but to give it to me in time. So, he got it out and I folded it up and I wanted to do something with it. I hadn’t had time to build a frame for it, and heard y’all was coming and today was a good day to pull it out and display it.”
In response, Mullin offered to frame the flag for the station, which Melton gratefully accepted.
The latter, however, was more frequent. Mullin took many questions from his Chimney Rock and Lake Lure colleagues about his plans for FEMA, including the “back log” of funding still in limbo after Helene. One major change to the agency Mullin suggested was that, in the future, FEMA would have a heavily reduced role in disaster zones themselves, instead providing financial support to local and state infrastructure.
“FEMA, as I said, we shouldn’t be the first ones in and the last ones back. The state is much more equipped, neighbors are much more equipped, local mayors are much more equipped and emergency response from the states is much better equipped than FEMA,” Mullin said. “But, we can be there to get ’em past the first heavy lift, to let ’em start rebuilding, and then we can just be, hopefully, the way I see it, is that we can help fund the recovery after that.”
The focus of the visit was not entirely on Chimney Rock and Lake Lure. Mullin also took questions about immigration policy, musing about the possibility of shutting down international flights in “sanctuary cities,”
“When we start looking at sanctuary cities, as I said, if they’re not enforcing immigration laws, then why would I be processing immigration in the city and turning them loose in those cities?” Mullin said.
Mullin said that the airport restriction was just one idea he was considering in his efforts to “streamline and make DHS more efficient” and indicated that the measure would be a response to Democrats’ unwillingness to “fund customs and border control.”
“This isn’t something that I’m necessarily gonna do, but it’s when I have to prioritize customs and border control because Democrats aren’t willing to fund customs and border control, it only makes sense for us to do this,” Mullin declared.