The nearly $60 million payment was discovered by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Feb. 11 that it had fired Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans and three other employees.
DHS said the officials were responsible for authorizing a recent $59 million payment to fund the housing of illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in New York City.
“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, which oversees FEMA, said in a statement.
“Firings include FEMA’s Chief Financial Officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist.
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 11: “The Biden-Run FEMA has been a disaster. FEMA should be terminated. It has been slow and totally ineffective.”
He also said that individual states should handle storms and other disasters.
“FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry,” Trump wrote. “It is now under review and investigation.”
The nearly $60 million payment was discovered by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” DOGE head Elon Musk wrote on social media platform X, which he owns, on Feb. 10. “That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels for illegals!
“A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.”
Part of $81 million
The New York City mayor’s office said it received a total of $81 million last week in federal government payments to house illegal immigrants, according to The Associated Press. That total was provided in two transfers, one of which was valued at about $59 million.
New York City spokesperson Liz Garcia said that the $81 million covered reimbursements for hotel, security, food, and other costs running from November 2023 to October 2024. The city applied in April 2024 for that money, which was appropriated by Congress and allocated by FEMA.
By T.J. Muscaro
