Two Americans are dead after catastrophic flooding slammed the Texas Hill Country — and while state crews pulled families from rooftops with helicopters, the federal government's disaster apparatus remains bogged down processing a border crisis that puts foreign nationals ahead of American citizens.

Nearly 30 inches of rain fell in three days across South Central Texas, killing at least two people, destroying homes, and forcing hundreds of emergency rescues. Governor Greg Abbott deployed 2,350 state emergency responders and 1,400 vehicles to deal with the catastrophe. That is a state-level mobilization, because FEMA — the federal agency built for exactly this kind of disaster — has been repurposed into a processing center for people who broke the law to get here.

The victims paid the open-border tax in full. John Mark Steward, 65, died in Kerr County when floodwaters swept his mobile home down Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River. His wife Jennie was away on a business trip to North Texas when a neighbor called with the news. "My heart is broken, I am devastated," she wrote on social media. "My husband, Mark, was found and went to be with Jesus."

Neighbor Mike Eifert told FOX 4 that Steward "couldn't make it over from that house to this one because the stream was extremely strong and high." The last time Steward contacted Eifert, he reported "the house was falling apart." Jennie Steward told the New York Post the last time she spoke to her husband was over the phone Wednesday, to celebrate their third anniversary. "It's really hard that I wasn't there with him," she said.

In Uvalde County, a 74-year-old man was killed when his vehicle was swept off U.S. Highway 83. The Uvalde Police Department said he "eluded law enforcement's warnings not to proceed up the roadway." His family lives outside the state, FOX 4 reported.

Dramatic footage shared by Abbott showed a helicopter rescue crew winching down to a flooded property in Uvalde, lifting a terrified young girl, at least two adults, and two dogs to safety. It is the kind of rescue Americans expect their government to fund without hesitation. Instead, Texas Game Wardens and local first responders handled the bulk of the work — boats, helicopters, ground crews — while the federal agency tasked with emergency management diverts staff and budget to border processing and migrant housing.

Every dollar FEMA spends putting border crossers in hotel rooms is a dollar not spent on flood response for American families. Every staffer processing asylum claims is a staffer not available for search and rescue. The trade-off is real, and it is Americans who pay.

Kerr County officials said Friday no one else has been reported missing. Floodwaters receded in some of the hardest-hit areas, but forecasters warned of life-threatening floods in west-central Texas and urged residents to get to higher ground. This disaster is not over.

The question is not whether the government can handle floods and the border simultaneously. The question is why it keeps choosing the border first.