The Trump Administration clawed back an $80 million grant to New York City for expenses related to immigration services previously appropriated by Congress on Feb. 12.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the revocation of the grant on X, remarking that “FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel, that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer.”
“Mark my words: there will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people,” Noem said.
City leaders noticed the payments were missing from city bank accounts early that same day. Eventually, the DHS—which houses FEMA—confirmed the grant had been taken on Feb. 12.
City Comptroller Brad Lander issued a statement on Feb. 12 regarding the funding reversal.
“This morning, my financial team shockingly uncovered that President Trump and his crony Elon Musk illegally executed a revocation of $80 million in congressionally-appropriated FEMA funding from NYC’s bank accounts late yesterday afternoon,” Lander said.
According to city spokesperson Liz Garcia, the office of NYC Mayor Eric Adams said on Feb. 10 that it had received two federal government payments for migration assistance: one payment for $58.6 million and another for $21.9 million.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the federal government is allowed to recover awarded funds when grant recipients are found to be non-compliant.
However, the federal agency must evaluate how the grant recipient used federal grant funds and determine whether it followed the grant agreement.
Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency, said his team had discovered that FEMA sent $59 million to luxury hotels in NYC to house undocumented migrants.
“Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk said on X. “That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!”
According to AP fact-checking, FEMA doesn’t send money directly to hotels. Instead, the agency administers the financial support on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which was authorized by Congress in 2023 for the Shelter and Services Program.
Lander showed that the local government paid an average of $152 a night for hotel rooms, most of which were outside Manhattan, where luxury rates range from $400 to $1,000.
After calling on Adams to take legal action to “pursue the tens of millions of dollars stolen by Trump and DOGE,” Lander received a reply from Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant, who agreed to commence legal action the following week.
On the other hand, Adams held a meeting with Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on Feb. 13.
Adams said he would allow federal immigration officials to operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail and recalled that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would prioritize the correction department’s bureau in criminal investigations.
“As I have always said, immigrants have been crucial in building our city and will continue to be key to our future success, but we must fix our long-broken immigration system,” Adams said in his official statement.
