The Department of Homeland Security made a unilateral move and fired four Federal Emergency Management Agency employees, accusing the “deep state activists” of paying out $59 million to New York City hotels to help cover costs associated with the migrant crisis.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner Tuesday morning that the federal department was parting ways with four government workers because they went around leadership to pay out tens of millions of dollars to New York City, where millions were spent housing illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in Manhattan.
“Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people,” McLaughlin continued.
The terminations come a day after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency alleged that the Biden administration dispatched $59 million this past week to reimburse New York City for the massive amount of money it spent housing illegal immigrants who traveled to the sanctuary city during the Biden administration.
“The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants,” Musk wrote in a social media post. “Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.”
McLaughlin warned Monday that whoever was responsible for the payment should expect to be fired.
New York City’s deputy press secretary, Liz Garcia, maintained in an email Monday evening that the city was in the clear and did nothing wrong in requesting emergency funding from FEMA to help cover billions of dollars in costs related to housing, feeding, and caring for 223,000 illegal immigrants who had passed through its halls.
The city maintained it never paid luxury hotel rates, the funding was appropriated by Congress during the previous administration, and the majority of people housed were families. New York City said it applied for these non-disaster relief funds in April 2024 and FEMA allocated them last year.
Of the $59.3 million that the city received, $19 million was for direct hotel costs, while the balances were for services provided, such as food and congregate shelters and services.
“We have continued to receive previously allocated reimbursements through the past week. We will discuss this matter directly with federal officials,” Garcia said Monday.
After taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that established a council to determine whether FEMA should be eliminated, given Trump’s “serious concerns of political bias” within the agency. The Trump administration has also sought to pause federal grant funding broadly, but it has been halted in courts.
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Trump has touted plans to do away with FEMA after it was revealed this fall that the agency purposely did not help Trump supporters affected by natural disasters.
The new council on FEMA is supposed to meet by March 20 and provide a full report to Trump by July 20.