Elon Musk alleges that FEMA designated $59 million for luxury hotels in New York for illegal immigrants

Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of diverting $59 million in emergency funds to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in New York.

Musk indicated that this finding was uncovered by the DOGE, and harshly criticized the use of these resources, asserting that the transfer of funds "violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order." On X, he commented that these funds should go exclusively to disaster recovery, such as the hurricane in North Carolina, and not to fund luxury accommodations for illegal immigrants. "A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds," Musk announced.

Completely overhaul FEMA

This scandal comes at a time when Trump has openly stated his intention to completely overhaul FEMA. Last month, the president signed an executive order to create a council that will review the agency's operations. Trump has expressed concerns about possible political bias in the distribution of funds.

The controversy intensified after Trump visited Hurricane Helene survivors, who, four months after the disaster, still have not received enough aid to rebuild their homes. During a roundtable discussion with local and federal officials, the president criticized FEMA for its poor response and vowed "to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. ... I think, frankly, FEMA is not good."

FEMA immigration funds are a separate from disaster relief

It is important to clarify that in making this comparison, VOZ does not claim that FEMA diverted funds intended for disaster relief—such as those allocated for hurricane recovery in North Carolina—to support immigrants living in the country without legal status.

The $59 million referenced by Elon Musk was administered through FEMA to the office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams as reimbursement for migrant assistance expenses incurred between November 2023 and October 2024. The city spokeswoman Liz Garcia, told The Associated Press, that the money came from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program, not from the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to clearly distinguish between FEMA funds allocated to support migrants and those designated for disaster recovery efforts, such as in the case of the North Carolina hurricane. These are separate funding programs.