The Department of Homeland Security recovered $59 million of taxpayer funds the Federal Emergency Management Administration sent to hotels in New York City to shelter illegal immigrants.
DHS clawed back the payment Wednesday after firing four FEMA staffers Tuesday for making the payment in subversion of agency leadership and the Trump administration’s broader agenda, as National Review previously reported.
“Secretary Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughin posted on X Wednesday.
“FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations & was used to house Laken Riley’s killer. There will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people.”
McLaughin was referring to violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which has built up a presence in multiple American cities due to the Biden administration’s soft approach towards immigration enforcement, and the Venezuelan illegal immigrant who murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley last February.
Jose Antonio Ibarra was convicted of murdering Riley in November and sentenced to life in prison for carrying out the bloodthirsty act. President Trump signed last month bipartisan legislation named after Riley that empowers federal law enforcement to detain illegal immigrants arrested for theft and related crimes until they are deported.
DHS moved quickly to address FEMA’s $59 million payment after billionaire Elon Musk, head of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, said on X earlier this week that DOGE staffers had discovered the payment.
“The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk said.
Musk promised the funds would be clawed back immediately after DOGE discovered them.
DHS fired FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist Tuesday, an agency spokesperson told NR. The terminations happened soon after the agency promised to swiftly act upon the unauthorized $59 million payment.
Spending taxpayer funds to assist illegal immigrants with housing goes against the Trump administration’s agenda of mass deportations and curtailing illegal migration across the southern border. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan have been overseeing Trump’s mass deportations with an emphasis on violent criminals during the first weeks of Trump’s term.
FEMA’s activity also took place after Trump signed an executive order last month requiring a review of the agency to improve its operations and remove any indications of political bias.
FEMA came under fire for last year when staffer Marn’i Washington directed emergency responders in Florida to avoid the homes of Trump supporters in the wake of Hurricane Milton. Trump supporters viewed the incident as part of a broader pattern of government weaponization against Trump and his political movement.
The agency quickly fired Washington for exercising political discrimination after her actions were roundly condemned. FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell insisted during a House Oversight Committee hearing this past November that Washington’s actions were a one-off and inconsistent with FEMA policy.
Last month, Trump visited victims of Hurricane Helene’s destruction in North Carolina and harshly criticized FEMA’s disaster response. While doing so, Trump mused about abolishing FEMA entirely and sending federal disaster relief funds to state governments to manage for future natural disaster recoveries.
Echoing her boss, Noem said Sunday that she believes FEMA needs to be overhauled when asked about how she would advise Trump to handle it.
“I would say yes get rid of FEMA the way it exists today,” Noem said.
“We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters like Hurricane Helene and the fires in California but you need to let the local officials make the decisions on how that is deployed so it can be deployed much quicker and we don’t need the bureaucracy that’s picking and choosing winners.”