FEMA is terminating four employees who circumvented leadership to make payments for migrant housing in a New York hotel, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed.
“Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” DHS’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, noting that the firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, as well as a grant specialist.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people,” McLaughlin added.
The news comes one day after Elon Musk, heading up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced that they uncovered the $59 million payment — made last week — sent by FEMA to house migrants in luxury hotels in the Big Apple.
“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 wrote.
“That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals!” he added.
In 2022, the Biden administration authorized the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program to respond to the migrant crisis. While former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre continued to deny that the Biden administration was using FEMA funding to support undocumented migrants, she was caught contradicting herself throughout her tenure.
As Breitbart News reported:
However, during a press conference on September 16, 2022, Jean-Pierre was asked if the White House planned to reimburse cities who saw migrants bused to their areas.
She replied, “FEMA regional administrators have been meeting with city officials on site to coordinate available federal support from FEMA and other federal agencies.”
“Funding is also available through FEMA’s emergency food and shelter program to eligible local governments and not for profit organizations upon request to support humanitarian relief for migrants,” she added.
This came to a breaking point last year after former DHS Chief Alejandro Mayorkas asserted that FEMA was running out of money to help Americans in need — such as those recovering from Hurricane Helene — despite the government spending millions on illegal migrants.
“We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting. We do not have the funds — FEMA does not have the funds — to make it through the season,” Mayorkas said at the time.
This also comes on the heels of President Donald Trump signing an executive order titled “COUNCIL TO ASSESS THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY,” writing that the FEMA has “managed to leave vulnerable Americans without the resources or support they need when they need it most.”
The EO warns of the examples of “serious concerns of political bias in FEMA” and declares that it has lost its “mission focus, diverting limited staff and resources to support missions beyond its scope and authority, spending well over a billion dollars to welcome illegal aliens.”
“Americans deserve an immediate, effective, and impartial response to and recovery from disasters,” it continues.
“FEMA therefore requires a full-scale review, by individuals highly experienced at effective disaster response and recovery, who shall recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience,” it adds.
