Trump administration Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem recently rescinded funding allocated to the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, which has been housing migrants. The administration has claimed the DHS is “recouping” a $59 million payment that was made to help cover the housing costs of migrants.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island recently ruled that the Trump administration can continue to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds sent to New York to assist migrant housing efforts. McConnell determined that the administration is seeking to terminate the funding on applicable authorizing statutes, regulations, and terms” and “sees no need for further clarification.
Noem took to X on Wednesday, writing, “I have clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels. 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.”
A spokesperson from NY City Hall said that the funds from the Biden-Harris administration were not part of disaster relief grant. “The previous administration left New York City largely on its own to manage an international humanitarian crisis. At its height, we took swift emergency action to house thousands of migrants arriving in our city every week – including in completely vacant hotels – ensuring that no family slept on our streets and that the public safety of longtime New Yorkers was not compromised,” they said.
The spokesperson further claimed that the efforts with the hotel have allowed the city to assist thousands of migrants in leaving the shelter system over the past few years. “Thanks to our smart management of the crisis, we have helped over 184,000 migrants leave the city’s shelter system since the spring of 2022. But, we are not out of the woods yet,” the statement added.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained during a Wednesday briefing that President Trump is focused on allocating FEMA funding toward Americans who are suffering from natural 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,” she said.
NYC Comptroller Brad Lander criticized the move, stating the funds were “stolen” by the Trump administration. “I call on the Mayor to immediately pursue legal action to ensure the tens of millions of dollars stolen by Trump and DOGE are rightfully returned. If instead Mayor Adams continues to be President Trump’s pawn, my Office will request to work in partnership with the New York City Law Department to pursue aggressive legal action,” he said.
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Watch Noem brilliantly maneuver a CNN interview below:
NYC Mayor Eric Adams weighed in on the Trump administration move, stating on X that he “learned about the federal government clawing back more than $80 million in FEMA grants applied for and awarded under the last administration, but not disbursed until last week.” He added, “While we conduct an internal investigation into how this occurred, our office has already engaged with the White House about recouping these funds and we’ve requested an emergency meeting with FEMA to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible. The Corporation Counsel is already exploring various litigation options.”
Featured image credit: Featured image: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons