The money had been given to the city during the Biden administration to offset the overcrowding of facilities housing illegal immigrants.
A federal judge on March 5 rejected a bid by New York City to force the Trump administration to immediately return its $80.5 million in grants, which were intended to fund portions of the city’s expenses for housing illegal immigrants.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rearden said the city failed to prove irreparable harm and could still recover the money if it succeeds in the lawsuit. The ruling came after a roughly two-hour hearing in Manhattan federal court.
On Feb. 4, city officials sued when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and its overseer, the Department of Homeland Security, clawed back funds from a city bank account.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Feb. 12 that she had pulled the FEMA funds, which had gone towards housing illegal immigrants in New York City hotels.
“FEMA was funding the Roosevelt Hotel that serves as a Tren de Aragua base of operations and was used to house Laken Riley’s killer,” she wrote in a post on the social platform X.
Laken Riley, then a 22-year-old nursing student, was murdered by Jose Antonio Ibarra in Georgia on Feb. 22, 2024. Ibarra had entered the country illegally from Venezuela in 2022.
On Feb. 12, Noem said the money represented “the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels.”
In response, the city described the clawback as a “money grab” that sidestepped Congress’ intent in appropriating the funds.
Its lawsuit called on Rearden to order the Trump administration to immediately return the $80.5 million and to stop taking similar actions.
FEMA originally gave New York City the money to offset the cost of housing illegal immigrants in city hotels after illegal immigration surged during the Biden administration.
President Donald Trump has made it a priority of his second term to crack down on illegal border crossings and increase deportations.
In a Feb. 28 court filing, the Justice Department accused New York City of letting the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan become a “base of operations” for crime while housing illegal immigrants.
By Jacob Burg
