Eric Adams to sue Trump admin over revoked $80M in FEMA migrant shelter funding for New York Metropolis

New York Metropolis mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, plans to file a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration after the federal authorities secretly revoked greater than $80 million in funding for the town’s migrant shelters.

Counsel for the Adams administration despatched a letter Friday to metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander saying that the town’s Regulation Division deliberate to take authorized motion by the top of subsequent week to have the $80.5 million in FEMA funds taken earlier this week returned, in line with the New York Publish. Lander is working in opposition to Adams in June’s Democrat major election for the town’s mayor.

“The Regulation Division is at the moment drafting litigation papers with respect to this matter,” company counsel Mureil Goode-Trufant instructed Lander in a letter, the outlet reported.

“We intend to provoke authorized motion by February 21, 2025. Because the Regulation Division is representing the Metropolis of New York on this matter, there isn’t a want for an authorization for the Comptroller’s Workplace to interact exterior authorized counsel,” the letter reads.

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The letter got here after Lander urged the Adams administration to both file a lawsuit or authorize him to rent his personal attorneys to sue Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the Division of Authorities Effectivity.

“Given the gravity of the scenario, we can’t afford to waste any extra time. If the Mayor would like to spend his days advancing President Trump’s agenda as a substitute of combating for New Yorkers, then the Regulation Division should permit me to take action,” Lander mentioned in an announcement Friday.

“Recovering these funds is crucial, and any motion, or non-action, permitting the Trump administration to proceed with out consequence would set a harmful precedent and make our Metropolis a goal for the subsequent 4 years,” he added.

The revocation of FEMA funds from New York Metropolis’s accounts occurred Tuesday and was first found by Lander the next day.

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“Let’s be crystal clear: That is freeway theft. Elon Musk, with no authorized authority, illegally seized federal funds from New Yorkers,” Lander mentioned Wednesday.

Musk claimed that DOGE discovered a $59 million FEMA fee to New York Metropolis was getting used on luxurious resorts to deal with unlawful migrants. Trump later repeated Musk’s declare and argued that “large fraud” was occurring.

New York Metropolis was awarded two separate grants in the course of the Biden administration — one for $58.6 million and one other for $21.9 million — as the town tried to pay to deal with migrants, lots of whom have been despatched by Texas officers who have been pissed off with the Biden administration’s dealing with of the inflow of migrants coming into the U.S. by the Southern Border.

The funds have been made below the Shelter and Companies Program that Congress appropriated $650 million for final 12 months to assist native governments reply to the migrant disaster.

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The FEMA cash, which was funded by U.S. Customs and Border Safety, paid $12.50 an evening reimbursement for every lodge room. Town mentioned many of the resorts used to deal with migrants aren’t luxurious. The rest of the funds went towards safety, meals and different providers for migrants.

This got here after the Division of Justice ordered prosecutors to drop their federal corruption case in opposition to Adams, who had been indicted on prices of fraud, bribery and soliciting marketing campaign contributions from foreigners. Some have raised issues that Adams could also be beholden to the president as a result of his case was dropped.