4 FEMA employees are fired over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants

[February 12, 2025]  By REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four federal employees were fired Tuesday over payments to reimburse New York City for hotel costs for migrants, Department of Homeland Security officials said.

The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions, which have been standard for years through a program that helps with costs to care for a surge in migration. However, officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies.

On Monday, President Donald Trump's aide Elon Musk posted on X that his team had discovered payments used to house migrants in “luxury hotels” with money intended for disaster relief. Musk blasted the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is part of Homeland Security, and called the payments “gross insubordination.”

FEMA’s acting administrator, Cameron Hamilton, later said the payments were suspended and the employees who authorized them would be held accountable.

The terminated employees were FEMA's chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist, a Homeland Security statement said.

The employees made “egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,” the statement said. “DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people.”

The statement gave no other details, and officials didn't reply to emails seeking further comment.

But in court documents filed Tuesday, Hamilton said the administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Services Program because of concerns the money was “facilitating illegal activities” at a Manhattan hotel used to house migrants.

Hamilton's comments came as part of a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans. The freeze, just days into the new administration, threw states, communities and organizations that rely on federal funding into mass confusion, and was rescinded two days later.

“As of today, the Department has paused funding to the Shelter and Services Program based on significant concerns that the funding is going to entities engaged in or facilitating illegal activities,” Hamilton wrote.

Migrant, Cesar Anibal Bonilla Estrada, 54, from Ecuador, center, checks his phone during dinner time at the migrant shelter on Randall's Island, on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

Hamilton cited a New York Post news report that the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua was using the Roosevelt Hotel — which is used to house migrants in New York — as a “recruiting center and base of operations to plan a variety of crimes.” Hamilton said if FEMA payments continue, they would “likely fund criminal activity.”

New York started leasing the Roosevelt Hotel as an intake center for homeless migrants seeking city services in 2023, after it closed in the fall of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. By law, New York City must offer shelter to anyone who needs it, and at the time the regular homeless shelter system was overwhelmed with new arrivals. The hotel now serves as both a place where migrants must go to apply for services and as a temporary shelter for hundreds of families who can stay for only 60 days.

Hamilton said that the federal government can pause or end payments if recipients don't abide by the terms and that FEMA is reaching out to New York to get more information and "ensure that federal funds are not being used for illegal activities."

The Shelter and Services Program — with money coming from Congress and administered by FEMA — has become a flashpoint for criticism by Republicans, who incorrectly claim it’s taking funds from people hit by hurricanes or floods.

The money is separate from the disaster relief fund, which is FEMA’s main funding stream to help people and governments affected by disasters.

The firings and court filing come as Trump's Republican administration ratchets up pressure on FEMA, suggesting it should be disbanded and money should be given directly to states to handle disasters.

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AP reporter Cedar Attanasio contributed from New York.

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