How a FEMA Program Ballooned Into a Multimillion-Dollar Pipeline for Illegal Immigrants

The agency has dramatically increased funding to illegal immigrants’ needs, while critics say that money should go to U.S. citizens who need help.

Roxanne Brooks mounts an American flag to a stack of cinder blocks outside her friend's destroyed mobile home (R) in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene flooding in Swannanoa, N.C., on Oct. 6, 2024. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program that paid $59 million to house illegal immigrants at a New York City hotel was originally established to help at-risk homeless people and the needy.

The payment was publicized as an example of government waste by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk.