• FEMA employees fired over 'egregious' $59M payment for NYC migrants

    From Leroy N. Soetoro@21:1/5 to All on Fri Feb 14 02:00:49 2025
    XPost: alt.government.employees, misc.immigration.usa, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics

    https://nypost.com/2025/02/11/us-news/fema-employees-set-to-be-fired-over- egregious-payment-for-nyc-migrants/

    Four Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) employees, including a top-level executive, have been fired after sending millions of dollars to
    New York City to house and care for illegal migrants, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

    �Effective immediately, FEMA is terminating the employment of four
    individuals for circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury NYC hotels for migrants,� DHS officials said in a
    statement obtained by The Post.

    The firings, first reported by Fox News, include FEMA�s chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist.

    �Under President Trump and Secretary Noem�s leadership, DHS will not sit
    idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of
    the American people,� the statement added.

    On Monday, Elon Musk, who runs the Department of Government Efficiency
    (DOGE), posted on X that his team had discovered that FEMA has recently
    paid out $59 million meant for disaster relief to the Big Apple for
    �luxury hotels� to house illegal migrants.

    �That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being
    spent on high-end hotels for illegals,� Musk posted on X on Monday � and promised DOGE would be making �a clawback demand � to recoup those funds.�

    City Hall quickly denied Musk�s assertations in a statement, without
    naming the billionaire, insisiting that it has never paid luxury hotel
    rates for housing migrants and that the money is not a diaster relief
    grant.

    The funds, which city officials said were allocated last year under the
    Biden administration, were likely sent via the Shelter and Services
    Program (SSP), which reimburses cities, towns or organizations for immigration-related expenses.

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

    The DHS � which oversees FEMA � directed Customs and Border Protection
    (CBP) to transfer $650 million of its FY2024 appropriation to FEMA for the
    SSP, according to the Congressional Research Service. CBP is also a part
    of the DHS.

    The DHS statement did not elaborate on how the four FEMA employees
    violated any policies and Trisha McLaughlin, a spokesman for the security agency, declined to answer questions about the payments.

    �As Secretary Noem said yesterday, we must get rid of FEMA the way it
    exists today,� McLaughlin said.

    However, on day one of his presidency, President Trump signed an executive order making it easier to terminate employees in so-called �policy-
    influencing positions� who fail to implement the president�s agenda.�They
    are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best
    of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the
    vesting of executive authority solely in the President,� the order states.

    �Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.�Trump�s budget team also
    ordered a temporary freeze on federal financial assistance in January
    pending a review.

    The administration announced further executive action on Tuesday � the
    same day as the firings � to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce with a hiring cap. More than 65,000 employees were already lured
    out of agencies with buyouts.

    Ilya Shapiro, a lawyer and director of constitutional studies at the
    Manhattan Institute, speculated to The Post that the FEMA employees had
    been �fired for cause� since they had been �instructed� by superiors not
    to commit the funding, referring to the temporary freeze.

    So-called �ministerial� federal workers like the fired FEMA staffers can
    be sacked for not following orders but policy-making appointees have
    typically enjoyed more job protections, Shapiro noted, explaining the day
    one executive order.

    Federal employee unions, Democratic state attorneys general and others
    have challenged those orders in court, with judges dealing a blow to the
    Trump administration in some cases.

    But proponents of the administration�s actions have claimed that Trump has
    the sole authority under the Constitution to hire and fire executive
    branch employees.

    Mike Davis, a fierce ally of Trump and founder of the conservative Article
    III project, told The Post that court challenges already launched against
    the president have been �unlawfully sabotaging� his authority.

    �He has the constitutional power to hire and fire,� Davis said, pointing
    to regulations that had hampered Trump�s ability to remake the executive branch.

    Meanwhile, Cameron Hamilton, FEMA�s acting administrator, said Monday that
    the agency had suspended payments sent to New York City to house migrants.

    City Hall officials have said they have not been notified of any pause in funding and that no one has contacted them regarding Musk�s clawback
    demand.

    The years-long migrant crisis has so far cost Gotham $7 billion, Mayor
    Eric Adams has said, often lamenting the relative pittance offered by the federal government for what he argues is a national failure.

    The Big Apple received a total of $81 million in funds from FEMA last
    week, not just the $59 million Musk railed about, city officials said � claiming that only $19 million of the $59 million that the Tesla CEO highlighted will go toward housing migrants in hotels.

    The city expects the remaining $30 million of the total $237 million
    committed by the Biden administration in funding will eventually be ponied
    up by the feds, the officials told The Post.


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