FEMA’S NYC ‘HIGHWAY ROBBERY’: City Hall’s bean counters were reviewing their Citibank accounts today when they noticed a troubling withdrawal of more than $80 million in cash intended for migrant services. After contacting staff at the White House, the mayor’s team learned that President Donald Trump’s administration had pulled the money — moving on Elon Musk’s social media threat from 5 a.m. Monday. “The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk posted to his 217 million followers on X. He vowed an immediate “clawback demand” to recoup the money. What ensued was chaos, confusion and concern that prompted Adams to publicly ponder legal action and one of his political rivals — city Comptroller Brad Lander — to lambast him for not doing enough. “This morning, our office 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,” the mayor’s team posted on X. “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.” Lander blasted the revocation of FEMA funding as “illegal.” The city had received it from Congress during President Joe Biden’s tenure to provide shelter and services to migrants. An additional $37 million that had been awarded — but not yet invoiced by the city — has also been frozen, Lander said. “This highway robbery of our funds directly out of our bank account is a betrayal of everyone who calls New York City home,” Lander said. The Trump administration falsely claimed the money came from disaster relief funds and was being used to house migrants in luxury hotels. In reality, the funds were administered by FEMA but had been sent by the Department of Homeland Security. The shelters included hotels left vacant by the pandemic — such as the Roosevelt Hotel — that the government housed migrants in. Four FEMA employees were fired on Tuesday, including the agency’s chief financial officer. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed the funding pullback on Wednesday, saying that FEMA was “funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations,” referencing the Venezuelan gang that has become a fixture of Trump’s deportation plans. Meanwhile the seizure of funds could result in cuts to city services. “We can't recover money we already spent on shelter and services for asylum seekers, so it would require cutting $80 million of some other city expenses,” Lander said, calling the move “uncharted territory.” “I find it terrifying that the federal government had the ability to seize money from us in a way that we did not know before,” he said. “Americans have to be worried that the federal government has broader access to our banking system than we understood previously.” Lander also took a shot at Adams, whom he’s challenging in the June Democratic primary, for his chummy relationship with Trump. “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 in a statement. Adams is scheduled to meet Thursday with Trump border czar Tom Homan, who demanded cooperation from the Democrat during a radio interview Tuesday, saying, “Either he comes to the table or we go around him.” Ahead of the meeting, which is likely to draw scrutiny from his reelection opponents, Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus provided a statement that noted more than 230,000 migrants have come to the city “at a cost of nearly $7 billion with little help from the previous administration.” She said Adams will “discuss going after the violent offenders who are wreaking havoc on our streets” and “will continue to explore all lawful processes to remove violent migrants from our city.” What she did not mention, of course, is that Adams will be in a politically precarious position if the Trump administration insists on civil enforcement of migrants. If he fights the White House team, he risks Trump’s Department of Justice revisiting the criminal charges it dropped this week. If he appears to be compliant, his rivals will continue telling Democratic voters he is a pawn for the Republican president. “We hope to increase collaboration across law enforcement agencies to ensure we are working together to prevent violent gang activity,” Mamelek Altus said. “The mayor will also speak with Homan about the $80 million dollar claw back of FEMA funding.” — Cris Seda Chabrier, Sally Goldenberg, Joe Anuta
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