FEMA concentration camps

{{bronze}}{{Sources needed}}[[File:FEMA logo.svg|right|thumb|The last sight [[Alex Jones|you'll]] ever see.]]{{conspiracynav}}
'''FEMA concentration camps''' (also '''FEMA death camps''' and just '''FEMA camps''') exist in the minds of a particularly loopy bunch of [[conspiracy theorists]] who believe that [[Concentration camp|mass internment facilities]] have been built across the continental [[United States]] by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in preparation for a future declaration of [[martial law]] (or similar nefarious ends).

The camps allegedly come complete with barbed wire fences straight out of World War II, boxcars for moving people around, and plastic coffins for burying them. (Why not just burn the corpses [[Nazi]]-style? Is FEMA concerned about its [[greenhouse gas]] [[global warming|output]]?)

While FEMA facilities exist, they usually consist of storage and temporary-housing locations. The number of FEMA facilities is far lower than conspiracists would have you believe, and FEMA itself is a bumbling bureaucratic nightmare. If this is the New World Order, at least it'll be quite inept at being Orwellian.

==What is FEMA?==
[[File:Femacamp.jpg|thumb|right|You know, my grandfather’s cousin’s friend had a nephew whose friend’s mother’s fiancé had a brother whose friend had a friend whose seventh cousin died in a FEMA concentration camp...]]
The '''Federal Emergency Management Agency''' ('''FEMA''') is a [[United States]] government agency tasked with the effective management of major emergencies within the country, including ensuring the continuity of [[government]] during a large-scale disaster such as a [[nuclear war]]. It provides federal relief to areas afflicted by natural disasters, and has drawn a great deal of criticism for its [[Hurricane Katrina|face-palming incompetence]] in doing so, which is largely a result of its being used as a dumping-ground for [[political]] lackeys too important to ignore (but not important or dangerous enough to make {{wpl|United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State}}) than of any incompetence of the members themselves.

FEMA was originally a weird bureaucratic anomaly — set up by a series of executive orders (1978-1979) rather than by an act of [[Congress]].<ref>[http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12127.html Executive Order #12127] ([[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] would have probably been able to pass it in the legislature.)</ref> In 2002, it was finally codified into law and made a component of the [[Department of Homeland Security]]. As well as providing large-scale emergency-management, FEMA is also the largest flood-insurer in the United States,<ref>[http://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program National Flood Insurance Program], FEMA</ref> mainly because most private insurance companies don't offer flood-insurance since it is generally expensive. 

FEMA has been the focus of a great number of nutbar [[conspiracy theories]], documented below.

==Claims==
Exact claims about the purpose and nature of the camps vary from one [[crank]] to another. Here are some favorites:

===Shadow government===
FEMA, naturally, is the {{wpl|Shadow government (conspiracy)|shadow government}} which will run the show after the [[Puppet state|puppet government]] dissolves through a series of [[Executive power and the War on Terror|executive orders]] issued by the [[POTUS|President]]. The idea that FEMA could pull off such a masterstroke is surprisingly widespread — especially considering the agency's ''massive'' display of incompetence during [[Hurricane Katrina]] way back in 2005.

FEMA supposedly has the power to declare [[martial law]] and to round up half a million American citizens (fewer than one percent) into concentration camps (the subject of this article). In fact, the [[Centers for Disease Control]] actually ''do'' have the power to intern large numbers of citizens pretty much [[Pandemic|immediately as needed]]. (And they'd even have a better {{wpl|cover story||).}}<ref group=note>It's for your ''health and safety''! (This may explain why [[COVID-19 denialism|COVID conspiracy theories]] caught on so easily.)</ref>

Conspiracists like to back up the "shadow government" narrative by noting that {{wpl|Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center|Mount Weather|,}} FEMA's headquarters in [[Virginia]], is a sort-of spare [[Washington, D.C.]] (in case the real one gets nuked) — and the purported location of the US Shadow Government.

===Taking our guns!===
A common supposed motivation for FEMA camps is to allow the evil [[UN]] to [[Gun control|take away everyone's guns]]. Given that 1 in 4 Americans own at least one gun, how this would be an efficient method whatsoever is anybody's guess.

===North American Union / One-World Government===
What use could FEMA camps possibly have? Why not use them to detain dissenting US citizens after the consolidation of the [[North American Union]] in preparation for the establishment of a [[one world government]] (or [[New World Order]]).

===Straight up genocide===
[[File:Femadeathcamp.jpeg|thumb|left|... Except all the ones who fled Germany.]]
They are ''concentration camps'', after all.

===Imminent world-ending disaster===
[[File:Nibiru-over-FEMA-Camp.jpg|thumb|right|''OMG!'' '''REAL PHOTO!''' ''FEMA is conducting drills in preparation for [[Nibiru]]'s imminent arrival!!''<ref>https://www.ncscooper.com/fema-to-conduct-drills-in-preparation-of-nibirus-imminent-arrival/</ref>]]
This theory, at least, assumes that FEMA is kinda-sorta a good actor. FEMA is in on the know: a looming disaster will render most of the world unusable and billions will die. Thankfully, FEMA will be there to keep America chugging along!

==Evidence?==
Unfortunately for those seeking a unified fascist one-world government, FEMA is not your guy.

===PHOTO PROOF===
[[File:Camp-FEMA.jpg|thumb|left|Excellent photography there, GovtSlaves.info.<ref>http://govtslaves.info/comprehensive-list-of-fema-camps/</ref>]]
There are several videos purporting to show footage of the camps, as well as shots of ominous-looking fences and webpages listing locations of over 800 camps, allegedly all fully guarded and staffed full-time despite being completely empty.<ref>[https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_FEMA16.htm]</ref> The intrinsic implausibility of people simply being able to walk up to the sites of heavily-guarded camps that the dystopian fasci-state wants to keep secret, videotape them, walk away unmolested, and disseminate the videos without any consequences, is apparently not considered, even though it flatly ''contradicts'' the central premise of the conspiracy theories in question.

In addition to the implausibility of such a massive conspiracy being kept relatively well hidden (the [[sheeple]] haven't woken up yet, have they?), the [[evidence]] is damaged by the fact that the videos and pictures actually depict everything from National Guard training centers to [[America Under Siege|Amtrak repair stations]] to [[North Korean]] labor camps.<ref>[http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a12805/4312850 Popular Mechanics – Debunking FEMA Camp Myths]</ref> (Hell, when FEMA actually did lock up [[Hurricane Katrina|Katrina]] survivors in a trailer park and refuse to let them speak to the [[media]], both the local news and FAIR reported on it.<ref>[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2924 As did FAIR.]</ref>)

===H.R. 645===
[[File:CAMP-FEMA-4.jpg|thumb|right|Say it with me:<br>[[Persecution complex|P-E-R-S-E-C-U-T-I-O-N<br>C-O-M-P-L-E-X]]!<ref>https://thelastgreatstand.com/2016/06/10/prepping-know-where-fema-camps-are-before-martial-law-gets-declared-video/</ref>]]
A recent claim is that [[House of Representatives|House]] Resolution 645 from 2009's 111th Congress authorizes the creation of FEMA concentration camps.<ref>http://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=FEMA_concentration_camps&diff=1223189&oldid=1221350</ref> There really is a H.R. 645,<ref>The full text of the bill can be found [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr645/text here.]</ref> and a careful reading of the bill shows that they are making camps and that FEMA is involved. However, anyone with reading comprehension beyond the average third grader will notice that the bill is to authorize the creation of ''refugee'' camps for humanitarian assistance and temporary housing after disasters (and "other appropriate uses"), and that FEMA is only involved in the sense that the locations of the camps are set up along FEMA's districts. Furthermore, the camps for practicing responses to national disasters are with coordination between federal, state, and local authorities. The reason you don't have private access to the camps is that they're on military installations, which are generally not open to the public. Not scary.

===Google Earth=== 
Proponents of FEMA camps tend to take one of two perspectives when it comes to Google Earth.

*The first side asserts that they've found tons of concentration camps on Google Earth. If you believe this is the case, please see ''Is That a FEMA Camp?''<ref>[http://isthatafemacamp.blogspot.ca/ A website dedicated to debunking the so-called location to every camp in the world and anything else related to this conspiracy theory.]</ref>
*The second side believes there are no FEMA camps on Google Earth, [[Adding epicycles|because Google is in league with the government to cover up their existence.]]

===Quote-Mining===
A common tactic used as "proof" of FEMA camps is to quote mine bills that have the words "FEMA" and "camps" in the same paragraph, and zoom in to the point you can only see the quote-mined sentence.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ho2InyMnCU URGENT !!! CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTATION REVEALS HORRIFYING GOVERNMENT PLOT !!! - YouTube]</ref> This applies to all instances this happens, not just FEMA Camp bills: If they cite the bill, look up the bill, and read it yourself to see the context. If they don't cite it, then the bill either doesn't exist, or they don't want to be embarrassed by the quote-mined sentence when some [[sheeple]] comes in.<ref>
http://web.archive.org/web/20131019181601/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zh-9EFaAbY
 "This video is private"</ref>

===Advertising===
So far, the only flaw in this otherwise brilliantly executed conspiracy was the mistake of publicly [[advertising]] jobs to work at the camps.<ref>[http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=106304 "Why is National Guard recruiting for 'internment' cops?"], [[WorldNutDaily]]</ref> It's always the small details the conspirators slip up on.

==Believers==
[[File:Sheeple FEMA.JPG|thumb|left|People be like, sick memez bro.<ref>http://allnewspipeline.com/FEMA_Death_Domes_Pop_Up_Across_Texas.php</ref>]]
The FEMA camp conspiracy theory has been alluded to by [[Republican]] leadership candidate [[Michele Bachmann]], though she did not say FEMA.<ref>[http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/michelle-bachmann-warns-politically-cor Crooks ans Liars: Michelle Bachmann warns of politically correct re-education camps for young people]</ref> [[Glenn Beck]], who to his credit later backpedaled and hosted a debunking segment featuring a guest from ''Popular Mechanics'', promoted the theory as well.<ref>[http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/23671/ Video] and [http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/23656/ transcript] of Beck's show debunking FEMA camps.</ref> Still, the theory remains popular among the [[survivalist]] community and the [[militia movement]], and there's no shortage of adherents on the [[Internet]].

The idea that the US government is planning to intern masses of people has some history, and is not just limited to the far-right. In the 1980s, opponents of [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[Central America]] policy on the [[Moonbat|far-left]] thought that FEMA was planning a mass roundup of them just before the imminent U.S. invasion of [[Nicaragua]]. (See [[#Rex 84|Rex 84]] below.) Barely skipping a beat, it became a theory on the [[right-wing]] [[black helicopters]]/militia circuit in the '90s, among [[Alex Jones]] followers and [[truthers]] in the 2000s, and by the more insane opponents of the [[Barack Obama|Obama]] administration.

==Real-life internment plans==

===ADEX Lists===
During the early years of [[World War II]] in the years 1939 to 1941, the FBI did maintain {{wpl|FBI Index|lists of "subversive" people|,}} collated from files on political activists and immigrants. These people were divided into three groups: "A" for those to be arrested immediately upon outbreak of war or other hostilities, "B" for those deemed less dangerous, and "C" for enemy sympathizers. The attorney general of the time, Francis Biddle, found out about the lists and deemed them "dangerous" and "illegal". [[J. Edgar Hoover]], however, just [[Coverup|covered up]] their existence and continued the program under another name, telling his agents to just not mention it.

===Rex 84===
Readiness Exercise 1984, or {{wpl|Rex 84}} for short, was a "scenario & drill" created under the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration by [[Oliver North]] and FEMA deputy director John Brinkerhoff. Throughout the Reagan administration, the black ops of the US military and intelligence agencies effectively ran wild, especially in [[Latin America]], where Reagan's {{wpl|Foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration#Latin America|aggressive intervention}} many times verged on intentional genocide<ref>[http://www.alternet.org/noam-chomsky-nuclear Noam Chomsky: Ronald Reagan's Secret, Genocidal Wars | Alternet]</ref> by right-wing "death squads" with [[CIA]] backing. In this violent environment, the "scenario" described in Rex 84 is rather disturbing. It called for the rounding up and preemptive detention of human rights & anti-war activists, as well as Latino immigrants.
 
The ironic part about Rex 84, which many [[wingnut]]s seem not to grasp, is that the program was targeted against civil rights groups, anti-war groups, organized labor, immigrants, and minority communities in support of hegemonic, capitalist, right-wing American business interests (see {{wpl|Allen Dulles||).}}  FEMA camps are not, as conspiracy theorists would have it, some grand plot against conservative American patriots; rather, the only administration to seriously consider interning dissidents was planning on doing so against the sorts of ''left-wing'' activists that the American far-right [[Socialism|despise]] [[Liberal|the most]] (next to the federal government, the [[New World Order|NWO]], and the "[[International Jewish conspiracy|international bankers]]", that is).

===Internment in the past===
There has been one time in America's [[history]] when the government did send its own citizens to internment camps. During [[World War II]], about 110,000–120,000 [[Japan]]ese Americans were forcibly relocated from the West Coast to [[Japanese American internment|internment camps]] in the interior of the country, on the grounds that they would act as a [[fifth column]] against the American war effort. Privately, many white farmers on the West Coast also viewed it as a way to get rid of their Japanese competitors. This incident is often brought up by those who claim that the government has the [[will]] to do it again (occasionally claiming that some of the planned FEMA camps are renovated Japanese internment centers), neglecting to mention the fact that the backlash against internment very quickly sapped that very will.

In the 1830s, the US also deported many [[Native American]]s of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations) from [[Georgia]], [[Alabama]], [[Mississippi]], and [[Florida]] to the "Indian Territory" in what is now [[Oklahoma]], in what has come to be called the Trail of Tears, one of the most notorious episodes in the [[American Indian Genocide]]. Notably, this happened despite the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] explicitly declaring the Indian Removal Act of 1830 to be unconstitutional. A similar, albeit smaller-scale, episode occurred with the Navajo tribe's "Long Walk" in the mid-1860s from their homeland along the [[Arizona]]-[[New Mexico]] border to Bosque Redondo, a reservation/internment camp in southeastern New Mexico. In this case, fortunately, the Navajo were able to successfully reclaim most of their land, albeit only after experiencing a massive loss of life. Despite the atrocities done in both instances, they weren't US citizens at the time.

==See also==
*''[[America Under Siege]]''
*[[Targeted Individual]]
*[[Black site]]
*[[Black helicopters]]
*[[Bubba effect]]
*[[Guantanamo Bay]]
*[[Japanese American internment]]
*[[Serco Group]]

{{otherlang
|fr=Camps de concentration de la FEMA}}

==External links==
*[http://conspiracies.skepticproject.com/articles/fema/camps/ FEMA Camps], Skeptic Project
*[http://skepticproject.com/articles/fema/list/ List of all FEMA Camps], Skeptic Project
*[http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fema-concentration-camps-militia-goo FEMA concentration camps? The militia good times are rollin' again] by Dave Neiwert
*[https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a12805/4312850/ The Evidence: Debunking FEMA Camp Myths]
*[http://autisticskeptic.blogspot.com/ Autistic Skeptic:] This website was the original website that debunked FEMA camps on such a large scale. The current author, Jeffrey Newell, has created and moved to a new blog, [https://utistickyuubi.wordpress.com// The Saiyan Skeptic, which is now his main debunking blog.]
*{{wpa|FEMA camps conspiracy theory}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorist scapegoats]]
[[Category:United States government]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: Conspiracy theories, Conspiracy theorist scapegoats, United States government, United States politics