Mayor Eric Adams
Michael Appleton/Mayoral Pictures Workplace
New York Metropolis sued the Trump administration Friday, demanding the return of some $80 million in federal catastrophe aid funding that was unceremoniously taken again earlier this month in what Metropolis Corridor known as a “money grab.”
The funds in query had been offered by the Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) in an settlement made through the Biden administration to assist the town recoup its personal bills for offering care to tens of hundreds of migrants who started arriving within the Large Apple in 2022. However on Feb. 11, FEMA — now beneath new administration — abruptly eliminated somewhat greater than $80 million proper from a metropolis checking account with none prior discover or warning.
Metropolis Corridor says that transfer violated “federal regulations and terms of the Shelter and Service Program grant terms” and marked an abuse of “the federal government’s authority and obligations to implement congressionally approved and funded programs.”
“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 mentioned late on Friday in asserting the lawsuit. “The $80 million that FEMA approved, paid, and then rescinded — after the city spent more than $7 billion in the last three years — is the bare minimum our taxpayers deserve. And that’s why we’re going to work to ensure our city’s residents get every dollar they are owed.”
Single male migrants ready to get a brand new shelter placement outdoors St. Brigid’s within the East Village in March 2024.Picture by Dean Moses
The lawsuit contends that the Trump administration moved to take again the funding as a “money grab” as a result of “they oppose the purposes for which the funds were appropriated, awarded, approved and paid.” Metropolis Company Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant mentioned the lawsuit goals to not solely get the $80 million again but additionally make sure the federal authorities by no means once more makes such a seizure.
Together with Trump, others named as defendants within the case embrace Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem. FEMA is beneath the route of the Division of Homeland Safety.
Metropolis Corridor filed the lawsuit within the federal courtroom of the Southern District of New York. It got here greater than per week after Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, the town’s monetary watchdog, demanded that the town’s Legislation Division take authorized motion in opposition to the Trump administration for the seizure.
Whereas Mayor Adams didn’t point out by title President Trump or Elon Musk (the billionaire head of the “Department of Government Efficiency” [DOGE] who has been executing cuts all through the federal authorities) in asserting the lawsuit Friday, Lander known as them out in his personal assertion whereas praising legal professionals “who are standing up to” alleged collusion between Trump and Mayor Adams.
“After my office discovered that Elon Musk and his DOGE goon squad stole $80 million out of the city’s coffers, we successfully pressured Mayor Adams to allow the City’s lawyers to sue the federal government to get our money back,” mentioned Lander, who’s difficult Adams within the 2025 mayoral major. “The lawyers who are standing up to President Trump and Eric Adams’ collusion deserve praise, and we look forward to Donald Trump returning the money he stole from New York.”
The lawsuit got here hours after a federal decide canceled Mayor Adams’ impending legal trial on marketing campaign fraud prices, which the Trump Justice Division seeks to have dismissed. Decide Dale Ho, nonetheless, appointed impartial counsel to make arguments in opposition to dismissing the indictment earlier than rendering a remaining choice within the matter. Arguments are due in March.
