FEMA for America First Act of 2025 2025-02-27 Introduced in House FEMA for America First Act of 2025

This bill restricts the eligibility of non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) for federal disaster assistance benefits by eliminating eligibility for individuals with certain immigration statuses. 

Under current law, a non-U.S. national must have one of several specific immigration statuses (e.g., lawful permanent resident, parolee, or refugee) to be eligible for federal disaster assistance provided to individuals (e.g., the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) Individuals and Households Program or disaster unemployment assistance).

The bill narrows the immigration statuses eligible for disaster assistance to individuals by making non-U.S. nationals ineligible for such assistance if they are

  • a parolee (i.e., paroled into the United States temporarily for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit), 
  • an asylee that has not sought adjustment to lawful permanent resident status, or 
  • a refugee that has not sought adjustment to lawful permanent resident status.
]]> text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.