FEMA agents get pink slips after bankrolling NYC hotel stays for illegal aliens with taxpayer cash
President Donald Trump continues to make good on his years-long pledge to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C., now that the Department of Homeland Security has fired several FEMA agents associated with "egregious" payments to New York City hotels that house illegal aliens.On Monday, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency made a bombshell allegation that just last week, FEMA sent a staggering $59 million to "luxury hotels in New York City" for the purposes of housing illegal aliens. 'These funds have been misappropriated, going back to the Biden administration, and New York City, a sanctuary city, has been wasting billions ... [on] illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens.'"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!" Musk wrote.Musk added that a "clawback demand" would be made to recoup the money.In response, acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton assured Musk and the American public that the payments had been suspended and that the persons who authorized them would be "held accountable."Now, barely 24 hours since Musk's initial tweet, the DHS has already axed four FEMA officials associated with those payments."Four employees are being fired today for circumventing leadership and unilaterally making the egregious payment for hotels for migrants in New York City," the DHS said in a statement to Fox News on Tuesday.Republican New York Congressman Mike Lawler claimed these firings were "long overdue.""These funds have been misappropriated, going back to the Biden administration, and New York City, a sanctuary city, has been wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money — billions with a 'B' — to provide free housing, clothing, food, education, and health care to illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens that are here," Lawler told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News."I applaud, frankly, DHS for taking action to stop these payments under President Trump's leadership because we had incentivized cities like New York and states like New York, a sanctuary state, to allow this to continue," he added. "And it has to stop."Lawler further noted that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul had lately allocated "billions of dollars of state taxpayer money" for illegal aliens, even as she suddenly began charging citizens and legal residents an expensive toll to enter particularly congested areas of NYC."She's fleecing hard-working New Yorkers $2,500 just for the privilege of driving to work, [which] speaks volumes to how inept, incompetent, and corrupt New York has become under feckless leadership," Lawler said.FEMA did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.While NYC officials did not dispute receiving federal funds for migrant costs, they did take issue with the specifics of some of Musk's and Hamilton's assertions.For one thing, they said that they had not received word about any suspended funding, let alone a "clawback demand." Additionally, while Mayor Eric Adams' office confirmed that the city had received two federal payments last week totaling $81 million — including one payment of $59 million — the office insisted only $19 million of that was earmarked for migrant housing costs. "We have already spent over $7 billion on this crisis alone, and the previous administration committed only $237 million in funding to help house the migrants in our care and for future services," said a statement from City Hall."We have continued to receive previously allocated reimbursements through the past week. We will discuss this matter directly with federal officials."Media outlets also seemed to make excuses for the outrageous use of taxpayer dollars. ABC News shrugged its shoulders that a right-to-shelter law compels the state to house illegal aliens. The outlet neglected to mention that state and city officials consented to the right-to-shelter law in the first place and effectively reaffirmed it via settlement as recently as last year.The outlet further stated matter-of-factly that New York City has "historically housed homeless people in hotels," as though providing shelter for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens were common practice.The New York Post also claimed that "many of Musk’s claims" about FEMA and the NYC hotels housing illegal aliens "couldn’t immediately be confirmed." The Post suggested that Musk may have assumed FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program — authorized by Congress to reimburse for migrant-related expenses — was diverting money from disaster relief funds, which are technically separate.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
President Donald Trump continues to make good on his years-long pledge to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C., now that the Department of Homeland Security has fired several FEMA agents associated with "egregious" payments to New York City hotels that house illegal aliens.
On Monday, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency made a bombshell allegation that just last week, FEMA sent a staggering $59 million to "luxury hotels in New York City" for the purposes of housing illegal aliens.
'These funds have been misappropriated, going back to the Biden administration, and New York City, a sanctuary city, has been wasting billions ... [on] illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens.'
"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!" Musk wrote.
Musk added that a "clawback demand" would be made to recoup the money.
In response, acting FEMA Director Cameron Hamilton assured Musk and the American public that the payments had been suspended and that the persons who authorized them would be "held accountable."
Now, barely 24 hours since Musk's initial tweet, the DHS has already axed four FEMA officials associated with those payments.
"Four employees are being fired today for circumventing leadership and unilaterally making the egregious payment for hotels for migrants in New York City," the DHS said in a statement to Fox News on Tuesday.
Republican New York Congressman Mike Lawler claimed these firings were "long overdue."
"These funds have been misappropriated, going back to the Biden administration, and New York City, a sanctuary city, has been wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money — billions with a 'B' — to provide free housing, clothing, food, education, and health care to illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens that are here," Lawler told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News.
"I applaud, frankly, DHS for taking action to stop these payments under President Trump's leadership because we had incentivized cities like New York and states like New York, a sanctuary state, to allow this to continue," he added. "And it has to stop."
Lawler further noted that Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul had lately allocated "billions of dollars of state taxpayer money" for illegal aliens, even as she suddenly began charging citizens and legal residents an expensive toll to enter particularly congested areas of NYC.
"She's fleecing hard-working New Yorkers $2,500 just for the privilege of driving to work, [which] speaks volumes to how inept, incompetent, and corrupt New York has become under feckless leadership," Lawler said.
FEMA did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.
While NYC officials did not dispute receiving federal funds for migrant costs, they did take issue with the specifics of some of Musk's and Hamilton's assertions.
For one thing, they said that they had not received word about any suspended funding, let alone a "clawback demand."
Additionally, while Mayor Eric Adams' office confirmed that the city had received two federal payments last week totaling $81 million — including one payment of $59 million — the office insisted only $19 million of that was earmarked for migrant housing costs.
"We have already spent over $7 billion on this crisis alone, and the previous administration committed only $237 million in funding to help house the migrants in our care and for future services," said a statement from City Hall.
"We have continued to receive previously allocated reimbursements through the past week. We will discuss this matter directly with federal officials."
Media outlets also seemed to make excuses for the outrageous use of taxpayer dollars. ABC News shrugged its shoulders that a right-to-shelter law compels the state to house illegal aliens. The outlet neglected to mention that state and city officials consented to the right-to-shelter law in the first place and effectively reaffirmed it via settlement as recently as last year.
The outlet further stated matter-of-factly that New York City has "historically housed homeless people in hotels," as though providing shelter for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens were common practice.
The New York Post also claimed that "many of Musk’s claims" about FEMA and the NYC hotels housing illegal aliens "couldn’t immediately be confirmed." The Post suggested that Musk may have assumed FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program — authorized by Congress to reimburse for migrant-related expenses — was diverting money from disaster relief funds, which are technically separate.
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Originally Published at Daily Wire, World Net Daily, or The Blaze
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