A federal decide dominated Wednesday that the Trump administration can proceed efforts to withhold tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} meant to cowl resort prices for migrants in New York Metropolis because the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned it’s “recouping” a $59 million cost.
U.S. District Choose John McConnell in Rhode Island dominated that the federal government’s bid to withhold Federal Emergency Administration Company cash despatched to New York to deal with migrants was not topic to an order, nonetheless in impact, that is geared toward stopping a sweeping Trump administration pause on federal funding.
“Because the Defendants are seeking to terminate funding ‘on the basis of the applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms,’” McConnell mentioned, he “sees no need for further clarification.” He denied a movement for an emergency listening to on the problem and affirmed a short lived restraining order stopping the funding freeze.
“Secretary Noem has clawed again the complete cost that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant resorts,” a DHS spokesperson mentioned in an announcement.
Gaby Acevedo experiences on the brand new immigration orders President Trump signed and the way they will impact individuals within the Tri-state space.
On Monday, Elon Musk, the top of President Donald Trump’s Division of Authorities Effectivity, posted on X that his staff had found funds used to deal with migrants in “luxury hotels” with cash meant for catastrophe reduction. Musk and DOGE have consolidated management over a lot of the federal authorities and are working to chop prices and shrink the workforce.
On Tuesday, 4 federal staff had been fired, with Division of Homeland Safety officers saying they circumvented management to make the transactions. Such funds have been normal for years by means of a program that helps with prices to take care of a surge in migration.
FEMA’s appearing administrator, Cameron Hamilton, mentioned in courtroom paperwork filed Tuesday that the Republican administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Companies Program due to considerations the cash was “facilitating illegal activities” at a Manhattan resort used to deal with migrants.
New York began leasing the Roosevelt Lodge as an consumption heart for homeless migrants in search of metropolis providers in 2023, after it closed within the fall of 2020 as a result of coronavirus pandemic.
The Shelter and Companies Program, with cash coming from Congress and administered by FEMA, has turn into a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly declare it’s taking funds from individuals hit by hurricanes or floods.
The cash is separate from the catastrophe reduction fund, which is FEMA’s foremost funding stream to assist individuals and governments affected by disasters.
“[President Trump is] here for a reason, and he is focused every day on implementing his administration’s goals and sending 59 million bucks to a migrant hotel to house illegal immigrants when there are still people in North Carolina and California who have not received FEMA funding,” White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in a briefing Wednesday.
Below metropolis regulation, New York should supply shelter to anybody who wants it, and on the time the common homeless shelter system was overwhelmed with new arrivals. The resort now serves as each a spot the place migrants should go to use for providers and as a short lived shelter for lots of of households who can keep for under 60 days.
Hamilton mentioned that the federal authorities can pause or finish funds if recipients don’t abide by the phrases and that FEMA is reaching out to New York to get extra data and “ensure that federal funds are not being used for illegal activities.”
The firings and courtroom submitting come as Trump’s administration ratchets up stress on FEMA, suggesting it ought to be disbanded and cash ought to be given on to states to deal with disasters.
