New Mexico fire victims await payments. A FEMA director got his.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Updated Feb. 14, 2026, 10:17 a.m. ET


Sara Jo Mathews and her family did their part to fight the wildfire that ravaged New Mexico. By the time it was over, her businesses had suffered substantial losses. She’s still waiting for a payment from the federal government to help her recover. The wait has been frustrating. But making matters worse: While she’s in limbo, the government employee responsible for distributing payments to people whose homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged has already received a six-figure payment.

“They cannot figure out for the life of them how to pay us,” said Mathews of Las Vegas, New Mexico, “but they sure as hell figured out how to pay themselves.” Four years after the fire, the worst in New Mexico’s history, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is facing questions about how it has administered a compensation fund set up by Congress to help the wildfire victims. Critics are demanding to know how the money has been distributed, who has received it and whether it’s going to the people who need it most.

People who have filed claims complain that the review process has been complicated, frustrating and painstakingly slow and that cases are closed with no notice and no money awarded for their losses. “Getting money from FEMA, that’s like getting blood from a rock,” Mathews said. “They’re not giving us anything.” On Thursday, Feb. 12, FEMA placed the director in charge of distributing the money and his deputy on administrative leave after revelations that each received six-figure payouts through the program while other victims are waiting for their claims to be processed.

Jay Mitchell, who works out of the FEMA claims office in Santa Fe, and his wife, Lisa, a real-estate broker, were awarded $524,000 through the compensation fund last year, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. The money was to be used to repair smoke and ash damage to the couple’s home in Angel Fire, New Mexico, and to cover Lisa Mitchell’s reported business losses, the documents say. An independent news outlet called Source New Mexico was the first to report the payments.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/02/14/new-mexico-wildfire-victims-payments-fema/88646823007/