The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spent $59 million last week on continuing to house illegal immigrants in luxury hotels in New York City, according to Elon Musk.
“A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.”
Hamilton went on to say that Congress should have never asked FEMA to do that type of work in bills passed in 2023 and 2024.
“This stops now,” he said.
FEMA has been criticized for nearly a year over its disaster relief performance in western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene and reports of political bias within its ranks.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 24 after visiting the recovery areas of North Carolina. In the order, he called for the creation of a council to review FEMA.
“And it has lost mission focus, diverting limited staff and resources to support missions beyond its scope and authority, spending well over a billion dollars to welcome illegal aliens.”
While speaking to reporters in North Carolina, the president also hinted at possibly getting rid of FEMA amid the reform attempts.
“Americans deserve an immediate, effective, and impartial response to and recovery from disasters,” he said in his order.
“FEMA therefore requires a full-scale review, by individuals highly experienced at effective disaster response and recovery, who shall recommend to the President improvements or structural changes to promote the national interest and enable national resilience.”
DOGE was created to review agency spending and identify potential cost reductions to boost government efficiency. Its investigations of federal spending have sparked resistance across the country, resulting in lawsuits from several attorneys general and labor unions seeking to prevent Musk and his team from accessing the Treasury and Labor departments.
However, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who oversees FEMA, said she welcomes DOGE’s audits of her agency’s data and supports a complete overhaul of emergency management.
“I would say, yes, get rid of FEMA the way it exists today. We still need the resources and the funds and the finances to go to people that have these types of disasters,” she said in a Feb. 9 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The news of FEMA’s continued funding of illegal immigrant housing has drawn comment from several lawmakers.
FEMA did not reply to The Epoch Times’ request for confirmation of the $59 million funding, and clarification as to why that funding went through and how the agency could get that money back.
