Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she “clawed back” the $59 million Federal Emergency Management Agency gave to New York City to house migrants.
On Tuesday, Noem and the Trump administration fired the four FEMA employees who disbursed the funds. Those employees allegedly went around leadership to make the payments.
“I have clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” she said. “FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer. Mark my words: there will not be a single penny spent that goes against the interest and safety of the American people.”
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency discovered the $59 million payment, which was suspended before Noem’s announcement.
“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.”
Noem has said she’s recommended that President Donald Trump “get rid of FEMA the way it exists today.” Trump issued an executive order early in his presidency ordering a review of the agency.
New York City’s deputy press secretary, Liz Garcia, previously said 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 passed through its halls.
The city said it never paid luxury hotel rates, that 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.
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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.
“Secretary Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “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.”
Anna Giaritelli contributed to this report.