‘Highway robbery’
The Trump administration has clawed back $80 million that the federal government paid New York City to provide shelter in hotels for migrants, prompting outrage from local officials who say they may be forced to cut programs to make up for the loss.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the funding pullback in a social media post Wednesday, portraying the decision to fund the program as the work of “deep state activists” from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander said the abrupt decision was an illegal diversion by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency of money used to house asylum-seekers admitted to the U.S. under President Joe Biden.
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“President Trump and his crony Elon Musk illegally executed a revocation of $80 million in congressionally-appropriated FEMA funding from New York City’s bank accounts,” Lander said in a statement. “This highway robbery of our funds directly out of our bank account is a betrayal of everyone who calls New York City home.”
Lander’s statement came after the Trump administration claimed the city had received disaster relief funds to house migrants in luxury hotels. Musk posted that his DOGE “discovered” the funding on Monday, calling it “a gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.”
The funds were administered by FEMA, a subagency of the Department of Homeland Security. A 2024 report from Lander’s office found that the city paid an average rate of $156 a night for hotel rooms booked through an agreement with the Hotel Association of New York City.
The seizure of funds could result in cuts to city services.
“We can’t recover money we already spent on shelter and services for asylum seekers, so it would require cutting $80 million of some other city expenses,” Lander said.
FEMA suspended the payments, which were appropriated by Congress to the city to house migrants during the Biden administration. Four FEMA employees, including the agency’s chief financial officer, were fired Tuesday as part of the new administration’s shakeup of the government.
Noem claimed in her social media post without providing any evidence that FEMA was “funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations,” referencing the Venezuelan gang that has become a fixture of Trump’s deportation plans. An additional $37 million that had been awarded — but not yet invoiced by the city — has also been frozen, according to Lander.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lander took a shot at Mayor Eric Adams for not standing up to Trump, saying that “If instead Mayor Adams continues to be President Trump’s pawn, my Office will request to work in partnership with the New York City Law Department to pursue aggressive legal action.”
Adams said Wednesday that he is in talks with the White House about recovering the money, and that he’s requested an emergency meeting with FEMA to resolve the matter. “The Corporation Counsel is already exploring various litigation options,” he added, in a statement on X.
Adams is scheduled to meet Thursday with Trump border czar Tom Homan, who demanded cooperation from the Democrat during a radio interview Tuesday, saying, “Either he comes to the table or we go around him.”
Ahead of the meeting, which is likely to draw scrutiny from his reelection opponents, Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus provided a statement that noted more than 230,000 migrants have come to the city “at a cost of nearly $7 billion with little help from the previous administration.”
She said Adams will “discuss going after the violent offenders who are wreaking havoc on our streets” and “will continue to explore all lawful processes to remove violent migrants from our city.”
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POLITICO
