Adams sues Trump admin over clawback of $80M migrant shelter funds from NYC

New York City filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday to recoup $80.5 million of congressionally approved migrant funding the feds quietly seized from the city’s coffers last week.The city’s Law Department blasted President Trump for conducting an “unlawful money grab” that snatched Federal Emergency Management Agency payments without any advance notice, according to the suit filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York.The payments were dispersed to help pay back local governments, including New York City, for shouldering the massive cost of the migrant crisis.“Without a doubt, our immigration system is broken, but the cost of managing an international humanitarian crisis should not overwhelmingly fall onto one city alone,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement Friday night.“With very little help from the federal government, our administration has skillfully managed an unprecedented crisis, which has seen over 231,000 people enter our city asking for shelter.The $80 million that FEMA approved, paid, and then rescinded — after the city spent more than $7 billion in the last three years — is the bare minimum our taxpayers deserve,” he continued.“And that’s why we’re going to work to ensure our city’s residents get every dollar they are owed.”Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are among the defendants listed in the suit. The sudden withdrawal of FEMA funds from New York City’s accounts unfolded Feb.

11 — without Adams’ knowledge — just days after Elon Musk claimed his Department of Government Efficiency discovered $59 million was being wasted on “luxury hotels” to house illegal migrants.City Comptroller Brad Lander publicly revealed the missing funds the next morning and accused Trump and the richest man alive of “highway robbery.”New York City applied for and was awarded two separate grants of $58.6 million and $21.9 million under ...