WASHINGTON — The performing head of the federal company accountable for responding to disasters stated Monday that he’s suspending funds despatched to New York Metropolis to accommodate migrants and that employees who made them can be held accountable, after Elon Musk blasted the transactions on his social media platform.
Musk, who as head of the Division of Authorities Effectivity has consolidated management over a lot of the federal authorities and is working to chop prices and shrink the workforce, posted on X that his workforce “simply found that FEMA despatched $59M LAST WEEK to luxurious lodges in New York Metropolis to accommodate unlawful migrants.” He stated the cash is meant for catastrophe aid and can be clawed again.
Cameron Hamilton, performing administrator of the Federal Emergency Administration Company, reposted Musk’s feedback and stated the funds have been suspended as of Sunday.
Musk gave no proof to assist his declare, and knowledge from town of New York indicated that cash it is obtained to take care of migrants was appropriated by Congress and allotted to town final yr by FEMA.
The town hasn’t been notified of any pause in funding, spokeswoman Liz Garcia stated. An announcement famous that town has obtained federal authorities reimbursements by the previous week and stated the matter can be mentioned instantly with federal officers.
Neither Hamilton nor Musk specified what sort of funds have been concerned. However the feedback on X — reposted hundreds of occasions — probably referred to funds made by the Shelter and Providers Program, which provides cash to reimburse cities, cities or organizations for immigration-related bills.
FEMA didn’t reply to questions in regards to the funds. However spokesman Trisha McLaughlin for the Division of Homeland Safety — to which FEMA belongs — pointed to latest statements by Secretary Kristi Noem.
“As Secretary Noem stated yesterday, we should do away with FEMA the way in which it exists immediately,” McLaughlin instructed The Related Press on Monday. “That is one more egregious instance. People who circumvented management and unilaterally made this cost can be fired and held accountable.”
When migrants arrive on the border, they’re typically launched into the U.S. as a result of the federal authorities does not have sufficient area to carry all of them. Feeding and housing them typically falls on native and state governments, in addition to nonprofits.
In 2019, with the variety of individuals coming on to the southern border climbing dramatically, Congress approved the federal authorities to reimburse a few of these prices. These have been the primary such funds and the start of the Shelter and Providers Program.
The cash comes instantly from Congress and is particularly for Customs and Border Safety — additionally a part of the Division of Homeland Safety. FEMA administers the funds.
The cash is separate from the catastrophe aid fund, which is FEMA’s most important funding stream to assist individuals and governments affected by disasters.
The Shelter and Providers Program has change into a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly declare it is taking cash from individuals hit by hurricanes or floods.
Critics even have questioned whether or not taxpayer cash ought to go to cities and states the place right-to-shelter legal guidelines imply everybody should be given a spot to remain.
No less than two different localities that obtained cash by the Shelter and Providers Program stated they’d not heard from the federal authorities about whether or not they would take again the cash.
Musk known as the $59 million his workforce has recognized “gross insubordination to the President’s government order” and stated the funds can be recouped.
It was not clear the place the $59 million determine got here from, and officers didn’t present particulars to AP.
The New York Metropolis mayor’s workplace stated it obtained $81 million in funds from the federal authorities for immigration-related prices final week in two separate items — one in all which was about $59 million, with $19 million for direct lodge prices.
New York Metropolis’s right-to-shelter legal guidelines require town to offer shelter to anybody who’s homeless. It has traditionally housed homeless individuals in lodges.
Metropolis sources have been strained with an inflow of roughly 230,000 migrants for the reason that spring of 2022. Along with housing migrants briefly in lodges, it additionally makes use of tent complexes.
The town says it at the moment shelters 46,000 migrants, most of whom are a part of households.
In one other put up Monday, Musk stated that below the Biden administration, FEMA took cash away from catastrophe aid and “spent it on 5 star lodges for illegals.”
Garcia stated town has by no means paid luxurious charges. The overwhelming majority are exterior Manhattan, and the federal government has paid on common $152 an evening for rooms, based on a 2024 metropolis comptroller report. As compared, 5-star lodges in Manhattan for the approaching weekend run from $400 an evening to properly over $1,000.
The funds of $81 million, Garcia stated, lined reimbursements for November 2023 to October 2024, together with lodge, safety, meals, and different prices. She stated town utilized in April, the cash was appropriated final yr by Congress, and FEMA allotted it final yr.
The town has hundreds of thousands extra in excellent reimbursements, she stated..
The confusion over the funds comes amid intense curiosity in FEMA’s future.
In a North Carolina journey final month, President Trump stated he was contemplating “eliminating ” FEMA. He is additionally making a activity power to hold out a “full-scale assessment” on the group.
Republicans final fall lambasted FEMA, saying it wasn’t doing sufficient to assist survivors hit by double hurricanes Helene and Milton. The company was additionally beset by false claims in regards to the storms and withheld help — typically fueled by Trump and others simply forward of the presidential election.
Criticism of FEMA intensified after the company introduced {that a} staffer was fired after she directed employees to not go to properties with yard indicators supporting Trump.
Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and unsuccessful Republican congressional candidate from Virginia, beforehand labored on emergency administration points for the departments of Homeland Safety and State however has restricted expertise dealing with pure disasters.
He’s been important of FEMA on social media and outspoken about growing safety alongside the southern border, the place the company’s sources might be redirected.
Mission 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second time period ready by the president’s allies, known as for dismantling Homeland Safety and relocating FEMA to the Division of Inside or the Division of Transportation.
It additionally recommended altering the components that the company makes use of to find out when federal catastrophe help is warranted, shifting the prices of stopping and responding to disasters to states.
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Attanasio reported from New York.
