Trump Administration Cancels $188M in Grants for New York City to Shelter Migrants

The Trump administration canceled $188 million in federal grants meant to reimburse New York City for sheltering migrants, saying the money was being spent to support illegal immigration and leading the city’s mayor to vow to fight the clawback.

In a letter sent April 1 and shared with The Associated Press on Tuesday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency informed city officials that it was canceling the grants, which included roughly $80 million that the agency withdrew from city’s bank account in February.

The latest move would require the city to return an additional $106 million that officials said was used to house and care for migrants.

Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration has sued for the return of the initial $80 million, said his office would also fight the wider grant cancellations.

“Like their previous actions clawing back appropriated funds, these steps are unlawful, and the New York City Law Department is currently determining the best legal recourse to take to ensure that this money remains in New York City, where it was allocated and belongs,” he said in a statement.

The grants are part of a program approved by Congress and administered by FEMA that is intended to help local governments and nongovernmental organizations provide shelter and other social services for migrants.

In his letter to city officials, FEMA’s acting director, Cameron Hamilton, wrote that the grant program is inconsistent with Trump administration priorities and that “individuals receiving these services often have no legal status and are in the United States unlawfully.”

New York City, as it at one point absorbed thousands of migrants each week, leased hotels and other vacant buildings and used them as emergency shelters. The city, under a unique legal agreement, is required to provide shelter to anyone who asks for it, though officials worked to impose limits on the requirement as the city struggled to handle the influx.

Among the facilities leased by the city was the midtown Manhattan building that once housed the historic Roosevelt Hotel, which was converted to a shelter and an arrival center for migrants to sign up for social services.

The city’s use of the Roosevelt drew heavy criticism from Republicans and federal officials, who said the building had become a hotbed of gang activity and used that claim to justify the clawing back of the $80 million FEMA grant. The city, in its lawsuit over the funding, said the claim was unsubstantiated.

The mayor has said that the city will cease operations at the Roosevelt and more than 50 other migrant shelters by June because arrivals have plummeted and migrants have been moved to other housing and communities.

Adams has been under intense pressure to prove his political independence from the Trump administration after the Department of Justice pushed to toss his federal corruption case so he could help with the Republican president’s immigration crackdown.

A federal judge dismissed the charges last week.

At a news conference Tuesday, Adams, a Democrat who is running for reelection as an independent, praised some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies but added that “we’re going to fight for every penny” related to migrant costs.