New York City is suing the Trump administration over its decision to withdraw over $80 million in funding to shelter illegal immigrants, including a $59 million payment identified by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency earlier this week.
Mayor Eric Adams’s (D) administration wrote a letter to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander (D) informing him that the New York City Law Department is preparing to take legal action by February 21 to reclaim the federal funds, the New York Post reported.
The NYC Law Department’s letter follows a request from Lander to pursue legal action against the Trump administration and Musk.
“Earlier this week, I called on the New York City Law Department and Mayor Adams to pursue aggressive legal action against President Trump and his crony Elon Musk to recover the $80 million in FEMA funding seized from the City’s bank account,” said Lander, a progressive currently running for mayor against Adams and several other Democratic candidates.
“Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot afford to waste any more time. If the Mayor would prefer to spend his days advancing President Trump’s agenda instead of fighting for New Yorkers, then the Law Department must allow me to do so.”
The Department of Homeland Security fired four FEMA employees and clawed back taxpayer dollars FEMA used for sheltering illegal immigrants in Big Apple hotels after Musk identified $59 million that was spent last week.
“Secretary [Kristi] Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said 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,” McLaughlin added.
The FEMA funding appeared to contradict the Trump administration’s push to curtail illegal border crossings and oversee sweeping deportations. Under Secretary Kristi Noem, DHS quickly moved to reclaim the $59 million Musk highlighted and to hold FEMA officials accountable for the spending. New York City officials later identified $80.5 million that the Trump administration took back into its coffers.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is dropping federal corruption charges against Adams, a move that spurred the resignation of Manhattan’s acting top prosecutor and two top officials at the Justice Department’s public integrity section. At the same time, President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan held a closed-door meeting with Adams Thursday where he agreed to allow federal agents to operate on Rikers Island, New York’s notoriously brutal jail.