The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reclaimed $59 million in taxpayer funds that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had allocated to house illegal immigrants in New York City hotels.
Secretary Noem has 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 & was used to house Laken Riley’s killer.
There will not be a single… https://t.co/Ves5H4dJsx
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) February 12, 2025
DHS took action on Wednesday after dismissing four FEMA employees the previous day for authorizing the payment without approval from agency leadership. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, confirmed the decision on X, stating, “Secretary Noem has recovered the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally directed to NYC migrant hotels.”
McLaughlin also pointed out that the Roosevelt Hotel, one of the locations funded by FEMA, had been linked to the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua and was used to shelter Jose Antonio Ibarra, the Venezuelan illegal immigrant convicted of murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley in February.
“FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel, which serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer,” McLaughlin wrote. “Not a single penny will be spent in ways that undermine the safety and interests of the American people.”
Ibarra was found guilty of Riley’s murder in November and sentenced to life in prison. His case led to bipartisan legislation, signed by President Trump last month, which strengthens federal authority to detain illegal immigrants arrested for theft and similar crimes until deportation.
The unauthorized $59 million payment was first brought to light earlier this week when Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), revealed the discovery on X.
“The @DOGE team just found that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in NYC to house illegal migrants. This spending violated the law and constitutes gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk stated, promising that the funds would be swiftly recovered.
Following the revelation, DHS terminated FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, along with two program analysts and a grant specialist, according to an agency spokesperson.
