New York City is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over millions of dollars linked to sheltering the city’s migrants.
The argument in the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, says the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved and paid out the approximately $80 million, but the funds were later removed from a city bank account, Fox News reported on Saturday.
In the list of defendants, the lawsuit names Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, per NBC New York:
“On Tuesday, February 11, 2025, at 4:03 pm, the long arm of the federal government reached into a central bank account of the City of New York (the “City”) and grabbed $80,481,86L.42 [sic]. It took these funds from the City without any advance notice that it would be doing so and without communicating any decision or rationale to the City,” the suit states.
The lawsuit alleges Trump is “responsible for the actions and decisions” and is being sued in his official capacity as president.
On February 10, Breitbart News reported, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found a $59 million FEMA payment to house illegals in “luxury hotels in New York City,” according to Musk.
The article noted, “The payment comes after the Biden administration had claimed FEMA was not using funds to support illegal aliens. ‘It’s just categorically false. It is not true,’ former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in October.”
Following Musk’s announcement, Noem said, “I have clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” per Breitbart News.
The city was awarded two grants when Biden was still president, according to the Fox report. One was for over $58 million and a second was for over $21 million, as local leaders grappled with where to house the migrants pouring over America’s southern border.
The Fox article noted:
The payments were made under the Shelter and Services Program (SPP) that Congress appropriated $650 million for last year to help local governments respond to the migrant crisis. There are currently fewer than 45,000 migrants staying at taxpayer-funded shelters in New York City, up from a high of 69,000 more than a year ago.
In a statement regarding the lawsuit, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said, “The $80 million that FEMA approved, paid, and then rescinded — after the city spent more than $7 billion in the last three years — is the bare minimum our taxpayers deserve.”
“And that’s why we’re going to work to ensure our city’s residents get every dollar they are owed,” he added.
