FEMA says it's halting payments for migrant housing in New York after Musk blasts money for hotels

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

FEMA says it’s halting payments for migrant housing in New York after Musk blasts money for hotels

By REBECCA SANTANA and CEDAR ATTANASIO
Updated 6:31 PM EST, February 10, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — The acting head of the federal agency responsible for responding to disasters said Monday that he’s suspending payments sent to New York City to house migrants and that staff who made them will be held accountable, after Elon Musk blasted the transactions on his social media platform.

Musk, who as head of the Department of Government Efficiency has consolidated control over much of the federal government and is working to cut costs and shrink the workforce, posted on X that his team “just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.” He said the money is intended for disaster relief and would be clawed back.

Cameron Hamilton, acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, reposted Musk’s comments and said the payments were suspended as of Sunday.

Musk gave no evidence to support his claim, and information from the city of New York indicated that money it’s received to care for migrants was appropriated by Congress and allocated to the city last year by FEMA.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fema-migrant-funding-new-york-hotels-immigration-elon-musk-doge-268ca7eda43011a501dfad0fa88a4775

[no_hypocrisy]

1. OK, then what?

1. No federal subsidization to pay for hotel rooms for migrants.
2. Migrants are evicted.
3. Migrants are homeless.
4. They are released on the streets.
5. Thousands of migrants are released on the streets.
6. They don't have anywhere else to go.

You figure out what's next.

[FBaggins]

3. The answer is clear enough from their perspective

Box 'em up and ship them back of course. Alternatively - there are probably more cost-effective locations than housing people in hotels in NY (with one report listing a $400/night hotel on Times Square).

Separate from fixing the actual problem though - People don't think of that as a FEMA issue when there's spin that FEMA doesn't have money for the folks in NC with no homes due to flooding. The optics are just too easy to spin.

[Dumpy]

2. He is going crazy

Link to tweet