The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday it was firing four officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, after tech billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk claimed the disaster response agency targeted by the Trump administration spent nearly $60 million housing migrants in what he alleged were “luxury” New York City hotels.
The DHS statement was released Tuesday. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The DHS said in a statement FEMA is firing agency officials who made the payments including FEMA’s chief financial officer, Mary Comans, two program analysts and a grant specialist.
The statement said “egregious payments” were made to house migrants in luxury New York City Hotels and that the DHS would not “allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people,” though Elizabeth Garcia, a spokeswoman for New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ Office, told the Associated Press the money the city received was appropriated by Congress and allocated by FEMA, noting the city has not paid luxury hotel rates.
The funds for the migrants was likely sourced from FEMA’s the Shelter and Services Program, which provides reimbursement to non-federal entities for migrant-linked expenses, the AP reported.
The firings follow a Monday post from Musk, who alleged FEMA spent $59 million last week housing migrants in “luxury” and five-star hotels, though Musk did not name the hotels or what hospitality chain they may belong to.
Musk said a demand would be made Monday to recoup the funds, with FEMA’s acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, adding the payments were suspended and that personnel “will be held accountable.”
FEMA did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
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Comans started as FEMA’s chief financial officer in 2017 and previously served as the agency’s acting chief operating officer, according to FEMA’s website. Comans has two master’s degrees from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security & Resource Strategy and New York University.
President Donald Trump has openly scrutinized the disaster response agency, saying Tuesday it “HAS BEEN SLOW AND TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE” and that “FEMA SHOULD BE TERMINATED!” Trump said in January he would sign an executive order overhauling FEMA that could include a recommendation to abolish the agency. Trump recently said individual states should manage their own disaster responses, telling reporters last month while surveying Hurricane Helene’s damage in North Carolina, “I’d like to see the states take care of disasters.” The president claimed states left to their own devices against disasters would create “BIG SAVINGS” and be “FAR MORE EFFICIENT.”
At least $450 billion. That is how much money the federal government spent on disaster assistance between 2005 and 2023, according to FEMA. The agency employs over 20,000 people and responded to over 100 disasters in 2023, allocating over $13 billion to survivors, communities and states for recovery efforts.
FEMA was established in 1979 by former President Jimmy Carter and became part of the DHS in 2003. Trump’s push against the agency is part of a larger initiative taken by his agency to cut down on government agencies and their workforces. The president, alongside Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, provided a buyout offer to more than 2 million federal civilian employees this month in an effort to shrink the federal workforce down by up to 10%. The White House said last week some 65,000 workers accepted the offer, which is currently frozen by a federal judge presiding over a lawsuit from federal workers unions arguing the Trump administration could not guarantee payment for employees beyond March 14, the expiration date for the existing budget.
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