New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled to satisfy with President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement places of work in New York on Thursday morning. It is the primary large take a look at for Adams’ relationship with Trump’s group after the U.S. Justice Division on Monday directed federal prosecutors in Manhattan to drop corruption costs in opposition to the mayor, with a prime official saying the administration needed Adams free to help the Republican president’s immigration agenda.
The assembly comes because the Federal Emergency Administration Company clawed again greater than $80 million from New York Metropolis, officers stated Wednesday, escalating a dispute between the Trump administration and the nation’s largest metropolis over cash for sheltering migrants.
The transfer got here as a federal decide stated he wouldn’t cease FEMA from reclaiming the funds.
Gone is a $59 million grant that the administration challenged earlier within the week and one other award for $21.5 million, Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander stated. The cash was found to be lacking in a single day, and Lander stated nobody in his workplace had been conscious that the federal authorities had entry to the town’s checking account.
Adams, a Democrat, stated metropolis officers had contacted the White Home about getting again the cash, are looking for an emergency assembly with FEMA and exploring authorized choices. Adams stated he would focus on the matter with Homan, after they meet in New York on Thursday.
Listed below are 5 issues to find out about former police officer and immigration officer Tom Homan.
The grants have been utilized for and awarded through the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden however weren’t disbursed till final week, the town stated.
Quickly after, Trump adviser Elon Musk flagged $59 million in funds, writing on X that his so-called Division of Authorities Effectivity had found the cash was used to accommodate migrants in “luxury hotels.” Musk gave no proof to assist his declare.
Within the final two years, New York Metropolis has leased a number of finances accommodations and different vacant buildings, turning them into migrant shelters.
FEMA’s performing administrator stated in courtroom paperwork filed Tuesday that the cash was being clawed again over issues about “illegal activities” at a resort.
Lander questioned whether or not the transfer was authorized, saying he had by no means seen a case the place somebody was “licensed to come back into your financial institution accounts and take it again due to shifting political winds.”
That is “the primary essential take a look at of whether or not we nonetheless have unbiased management at Metropolis Corridor,” stated Lander, an Adams critic who’s difficult him in June’s Democratic major.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt urged at a briefing Wednesday that the administration felt paying for accommodations for migrants within the metropolis was not a worthy expense whereas FEMA offers with expensive disasters elsewhere.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that she “has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels.”
A federal decide dominated Wednesday that the administration can proceed efforts to withhold the FEMA cash from the town. U.S. District Choose John McConnell in Rhode Island stated that cash was not topic to an order, nonetheless in impact, aimed toward stopping an administration pause on federal funding.
On Tuesday, the federal government fired 4 staff whom the Division of Homeland Safety claimed circumvented management to make the transactions. Such funds have been normal for years by a program that helps with prices to look after a surge in migration.
On Tuesday, the federal government fired 4 staff whom Division of Homeland Safety officers accused of circumventing management to make the transactions. Such funds have been normal for years by a program that helps with prices to look after a surge in migration.
Many of the former accommodations leased by the town are occupied by households with kids. None could be thought-about “luxury” by most traveler requirements.
Town additionally started leasing the constructing that after housed the Roosevelt Resort as an consumption middle for migrants looking for metropolis providers in 2023, after it closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That resort has a grand previous, although within the years earlier than its closure it was an reasonably priced choice for vacationers to the town.
Beneath metropolis regulation, New York should provide 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 brief shelter for lots of of households who can keep for under 60 days.
The Shelter and Companies Program, with cash coming from Congress and administered by FEMA, has grow to be a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly declare it’s taking funds from folks hit by hurricanes or floods.
Related Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed reporting.
