Four employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been fired for “circumventing leadership” and issuing “egregious” payments to house migrants at New York City hotels, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. 

“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS will not sit idly and allow deep state activists to undermine the will and safety of the American people,” the department said in a statement. The fired employees include FEMA’s chief financial officer, two program analysts, and a grant specialist. 

The payments come despite the fact that FEMA, which leads the federal government’s approach and response to national disasters, has been forced to borrow $2 billion from the Treasury Department to fund its flood insurance program. Recent hurricanes Helene and Milton resulted in roughly $115 billion in property losses and left the program’s funds “depleted,” the agency said. 

The firings come a day after Elon Musk declared on X that his Department of Government Efficiency team “just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.” He added that the money “is meant for American disaster relief” and that “sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order.” 

Two hours after Mr. Musk’s post, FEMA’s acting director, Cameron Hamilton, announced that the payments had been suspended and that “personnel will be held accountable.” 

FEMA, in addition to supplying emergency disaster relief, partners with Customs and Border Patrol to provide assistance to illegal immigrants released into the country under the Shelter and Services Program. That program is funded by Congress and is separate from FEMA’s main disaster relief fund. For the 2024 fiscal year, Congress allocated $650 million to the shelter program. 

New York City officials confirmed to Fox News that the city had received funds via a Biden-era program “through the past week” that were used to house illegal migrants. Officials noted that of the $59.3 million received, $19 million was used to pay for hotels and the rest to cover the costs of food and security. They added that none of the funding was taken from a disaster relief grant and denied that the money was spent on luxury hotels. 

A New York Representative, Mike Lawler, told Fox News that the firings were “long overdue.” Mr. Lawler added that “these funds have been misappropriated going back to the Biden administration and New York City — a sanctuary city — has been wasting billions of dollars of taxpayer money to provide free housing, clothing, food, education and healthcare to illegal immigrants, including criminal aliens that are here illegally.” 

The federal agency has come under fire by Mr. Trump and his administration on claims of misappropriating funds. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, suggested on Sunday that the government “get rid of FEMA as it exists.” 

Mr. Trump on Tuesday called for FEMA’s termination, criticizing it for being “slow” and “totally ineffective” and suggested that individual states should handle natural disasters as they arise. “FEMA spent tens of millions of dollars in Democrat areas, disobeying orders, but left the people of North Carolina high and dry. It is now under review and investigation,” he said in a post on Truth Social.