FACT FOCUS: FEMA funding to New York City to assist migrants is misrepresented
The claim, which has spread widely on social media, led FEMA's acting director to suspend payments sent to house migrants in New York City and the firing Tuesday of four federal employees.
But the post misrepresents the funding, FEMA's role in dispersing it and how it is being used.
Here's a look at the facts.
CLAIM: FEMA sent $59 million last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in insubordination to the President's executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high-end hotels.
THE FACTS: FEMA does not send money directly to New York hotels. It does administer money on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorized by Congress in 2023 for the Shelter and Services Program. It was created to support local governments and non-government organizations that provide support to noncitizens released by immigration authorities, according to the FEMA website. The money is separate from disaster relief funds.
The office of Mayor Eric Adams said on Monday it received two payments from the federal government related to migrant assistance last week totaling over $80.5 million. One payment was for $58.6 million and the other was for $21.9 million, under two tranches of the Shelter and Services Program, city spokesperson Liz Garcia said. The money covered reimbursements for services delivered between November 2023 and October 2024 and included reimbursement for hotels, security, food and other costs. About $19 million in reimbursement claims were for hotel costs, she said.
Garcia said the city has never paid luxury rates for hotels. That's backed up by a report last year from City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is now running for mayor in a bid to unseat Adams, which showed that the municipal government has paid on average $152 a night for rooms, the vast majority outside Manhattan. Some of the Manhattan rooms were around $200 per night, but that's not a luxury rate. Rates for five-star hotels in Manhattan for this coming weekend run from $400 a night to well over $1,000.
The Shelter and Services Program, also known as SSP, is administered by FEMA in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023. Congress appropriated $650,000,000 for the program in fiscal year 2024 to provide financial support to nonfederal entities. Of that, $640.9 million was 'to support sheltering and related activities provided by non-Federal entities, in support of relieving overcrowding in short-term holding facilities of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.' The remaining $9.1 million was for FEMA's administrative costs.
According to the American Immigration Council, the Shelter and Services Program provided reimbursements to state and local governments and nonprofits in 35 different communities in fiscal years 2023 and 2024.
Numerous social media posts and some news reports claimed that the money should be used to help the victims of Hurricane Helene, which devastated parts of western North Carolina. But the funds for disaster assistance are administered separately.
Yael Schacher, director of the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, agreed that Musk is likely referring to the Shelter and Services Program and said there is 'no substance' to his claim that money for disaster victims is being given to migrants, as each fund is appropriated separately by Congress.
'It is absolutely correct to say these funds would not have gone to disaster relief if they hadn't gone to the SSP program,' she explained. 'The funds just wouldn't have been appropriated by Congress at all. The Shelter and Services Program is a separate line item in the federal budget and does not draw from FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund.'
She continued: 'Congress has specifically set aside funding for FEMA to administer the Shelter and Services Program, ensuring that it does not pull any resources from FEMA's other work.'
Congress has authorized 140 times more funding for the Disaster Relief Fund than the Shelter and Services Program, according to the American Immigration Council. Schacher added that grants for the latter program have 'strict cost requirements for how the money should be spent.'
Four federal employees — FEMA's chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist — were fired Tuesday over the payments to reimburse New York City, Department of Homeland Security officials said. The workers are accused of circumventing leadership to make the transactions. Officials did not give details on how the four had violated any policies.
Cameron Hamilton, acting FEMA administrator, said the payments made by the employees were suspended.
In court documents filed Tuesday, Hamilton said the administration yanked funding from the Shelter and Services Program because of concerns the money was 'facilitating illegal activities' at a Manhattan hotel used to house migrants. Hamilton's comments came as part of a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration's freeze on federal grants and loans. The freeze, just days into the new administration, threw states, communities and organizations that rely on federal funding into mass confusion, and was rescinded two days later.
U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island ruled on Wednesday that the government's bid to withhold FEMA money sent to New York to house migrants was not subject to an order, still in effect, that's aimed at preventing a sweeping Trump administration pause on federal funding.
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Donald Trump announces ‘biggest of all deals' between US and EU after crunch tariff talks at Scots golf resort
A high-profile security operation remains in full swing, with police and military on patrol in the grounds of Turnberry DON DEAL Donald Trump announces 'biggest of all deals' between US and EU after crunch tariff talks at Scots golf resort Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DONALD Trump has struck a trade deal with the European Union during his visit to Scotland. The US President made the deal as he sat down with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen this afternoon. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Donald Trump has struck a trade deal with the European Union 4 Trump waves to the press as he tees off on Sunday for his second round at Turnberry Credit: Reuters 4 The President is being protected by a huge security operation Credit: Getty 4 Hundreds of protesters gathered in cities across Scotland on Saturday Credit: Alan Simpson The agreement sets the US tariffs on goods at 15% across the board. He said the EU will make $600bn in US investments, will buy $150bn in US energy and will purchase US military equipment. Speaking to reporters at his golf resort in Turnberry, Mr Tump said:"We have reached a deal. It's a good deal for everybody, "It's going to bring us closer together... it's a partnership in a sense." EU chief Ursula von der Leyen also hailed it as a "huge deal", which came after "tough negotiations". It comes before the American leader is set to be pushed by Sir Keir Starmer on how to end the starvation of kids in Gaza. Earlier today Mr Trump teed off on his second round in Turnberry after landing on Friday night, accompanied by a massive security team. The US President landed in Scotland in a party mood after revealing his plans for a trade deal celebration with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and First Minister John Swinney. Mr Trump said: "We're going to do a little celebrating because we get along very well." He was welcomed by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before being whisked to his luxury Turnberry resort 20 miles down the Ayrshire coast. He declared: "There's no place like Turnberry. It's the best course in the world."
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Trump's immigration raids are hitting farms hard. So what's next?
And they must be picked by hand. Lots of them. Finding those hands locally can be a challenge. Like other growers, some of her workers are foreign-born, whose presence is reflected in the Hispanic restaurants in the nearby 3,300-resident town of Mattawa. But this summer the harvest coincided with President Donald Trump's mass deportation sweeps. Rumors swirled of roadway checkpoints. More than 100 workers who started Lyall's harvest dwindled to 30 by the second week, leading her farm to struggle to get cherries picked in time. Some were picked too late, she said, but the financial hit to her farm was likely to be far less than what some other growers experienced. "There's a lot of farms that didn't pick because they didn't have enough labor," she said. Lyall is a Trump supporter in a conservative farming region. She favors stricter border security because of worries of drug cartels. But she wants to see a path toward a stable workforce. "There needs to be some solutions put on the table," Lyall told USA TODAY. Across the country, Trump's immigration raids have roiled farms and farming communities - with cases of worker shortages and fears of unpicked crops. And it has fueled growing calls for the Trump administration to protect agricultural workers critical to the U.S. food supply. Of the 2.6 million people working on U.S. farms, about 42% lack legal status, according to the Department of Agriculture and other estimates. Farmers say few native-born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The country's foreign agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And farmers say Congress has failed for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reforms. Those long-standing struggles are now compounded by the lurking presence of Trump's masked immigration forces as harvest season approaches or is underway. Earlier this month, raids on farms in California left hundreds detained, and soon after, a group of farmworkers in California held a three-day strike and called for boycotts. At stake are potential disruptions to the U.S. food supply and higher consumer costs. "Farm employers are holding their breath, trying to keep operations afloat without knowing whether their workforce will show up tomorrow -- or stay away for fear of a raid," said Ben Tindall, head of the Save Family Farming advocacy group, based in Washington state. The Trump administration in June suspended farm enforcement but then reversed that decision. More recently, Trump has cited the importance of farm labor and said his administration would look into ways for farmworkers to "be here legally, they can pay taxes and everything." Other administration officials, including border czar Tom Holman, said there would be no "amnesty" but cited ongoing discussions about policy changes related to farmworkers. A bill in Congress would create a legal pathway for longtime workers and streamline worker visas. The push for changes comes amid signs of a shift in public attitudes reflected in a recent Gallup poll that found a record-high of 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is good for the country, while only 35% said they approve of Trump's handling of the issue. Manuel Cunha, the president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents 500 farmers employing about 75,000 California farmworkers, said he's hopeful that policies will change. For now, he said, workers in places like the San Joaquin Valley are holding steady despite raids that have caused temporary shortages. Still, farmers are on edge, knowing it could change at any moment. Why foreign-born workers are critical to farmers In Lincoln County, Wisconsin, where the rural landscape of pastures and fields is dotted with barns and silos, Hans Breitenmoser's parents emigrated here in 1968 from Switzerland to raise dairy cows on a small farm. He grew up amid the daily rhythms of feeding and milking. When the farm grew, they had to hire more workers. But they could find few native-born residents willing to take the jobs in the sparsely populated area. And over time, fewer younger people were sticking around the farms. Now, the 56-year-old relies on about a dozen foreign-born workers, mostly from Mexico, to operate the 460-cow farm, not far from a shuttered church with peeling paint about five miles outside a town of 9,000 residents. "If it wouldn't be for immigrants, my dairy farm wouldn't run," he said. In recent months, dairy farms in Texas reported absenteeism while ICE has detained or deported people at dairy farms in New York and Vermont, where one Trump-voting farmer told a news outlet he didn't think deportations would impact the industry's workers. Dairies are particularly vulnerable to labor shortages because cows need daily care to survive, Brietenmoser said, and cannot be temporarily shut down like a construction site or restaurant. "Am I concerned about it? Absolutely," said Breitenmoser, who said he was among a minority in Lincoln County who did not support Trump in 2024. "They don't get fed and they don't get watered, and they don't get milked and they don't get cleaned up after, they will die." Across the nation today, about 70% of workers in the U.S. farm sector are foreign born, according to the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. The National Milk Producers Federation says milk prices could nearly double if the U.S. dairy industry loses its foreign-born workforce, the group said. "The uncertainty that undergirds agricultural labor and immigration in the U.S. continues to harm workers and their families, farm employers, rural communities and national food security," according to the federation. Farmers typically hire workers with documentation such as Social Security cards or permits the government says must "reasonably appear to be genuine." The government's E-Verify system, required in some places, isn't foolproof. Breitenmoser argues Trump's political rhetoric painting immigrants as criminals and invaders, when most are workers filling jobs no one else will, is a self-defeating strategy. "We've built an economy that relies on people, but we have a public policy that demonizes them. And to my way of thinking that just doesn't make any sense," he said. "American farming cannot survive without foreign-born staff." The dairy farmer noted that "we had immigration reform in front of the Congress prior to the election, but because all of the Republicans were scared of Donald Trump, it didn't happen." The solution, he said, is "stupid simple:" Accept the realities of farm labor. Hand out more work visas. And create pathways to vet longtime workers who need legal work permits. He hopes the recent turmoil will lead to long-needed changes. "Somebody's going to drive through McDonald's to buy a freaking latte and a hamburger. And guess where that comes from? It comes from my farm. And it doesn't happen magically. It takes human beings, be they brown, Black, White, green or otherwise, to get the job done," he said. "And that's what our public policy should reflect." Workers face stains, worry In a Colorado agricultural area northeast of Denver, Maria has worked in fields of watermelon, pumpkins and tomatoes for years. But not now. The 56-year-old, who didn't want to use her full name because she doesn't have legal status, emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico 20 years ago to escape violence and find better pay. Jobs on farms are hot, grueling and physically challenging. But some farmworkers can earn in one hour what they'd make in a full day back in Mexico. She said she sees an ICE presence in her part of Colorado. One friend's brother was detained on the street earlier this year. Her husband is still working in a dairy to make ends meet, but she said some farms have had to look for workers out of state. For now they want to stick it out. Their lives are here. They have children and U.S. citizen grandchildren who live in the United States and are concerned about them. "There's a lot of anxiety about, you know, grandmother, are they going to take you away?" she said. Many have reluctantly returned to work after raids that have taken place in places like California's San Joaquin Valley for financial reasons, said Teresa Romero, head of United Farm Workers. "It is a little misconception, assuming that workers are not going back to work. Some workers are, of course, scared of what could happen," she said. "They might be scared for a day or so, but they go back to work. They need their jobs and they need to support their families." Romero said the crackdown is also impacting the communities in which they live and work. Many are staying inside and not going to parks, school functions, churches and restaurants. In raids earlier this month at cannabis farms in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, immigration agents descended on Glass House Farms near Camarillo and in Carpinteria. They clashed with protesters and detained more than 200 farmworkers. A Mexican farmworker, Jaime Alanis Garcia, 57, died after falling from a greenhouse roof he'd climbed atop in an alleged attempt to evade officers, according to multiple reports, "The farmworkers detained in these raids are clearly in the United States to fill jobs that employers cannot otherwise fill," U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Thousand Oaks, said in a letter to federal officials. "Their undocumented status is not by choice, but a direct result of Congress' ongoing failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would allow a sufficient number of workers into the country and provide a viable pathway to citizenship." That's what Gabriel, a 42-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, who didn't want to use his name because he lacks legal status and fears detention, would like to see, too. The farmwork in California's Central Valley has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. He has worked in fields of crops from eggplant to pumpkin, waking up at 4 a.m. and earning $16.50 an hour. He said the majority of his fellow workers are also immigrants without papers and are still working, but some are considering going home. He blames past and current administrations for failing to deliver on immigration reform. He said some longtime workers were angry at former President Joe Biden for enacting more legal pathways to migrate and not focusing on legalizing the status of longtime workers. "Let workers work," he said. "These are people who help feed the country and pay taxes." Even legally present farmworkers are uneasy. ICE officials have argued they don't need probable cause to detain people and the agency could deport people with just six hours' notice. Maurico Sol, an H-2A worker who supervises dozens of fellow visa holders on a farm that spans Idaho and Oregon, said some colleagues have asked if it's safe to go to Walmart on weekends. He advised them to always carry their passport and visa. "I've also heard people that say, well, maybe this is going to be my last year," he said. "Because it feels different ... Even when we are in a good space here, where it's not happening a lot, you feel like, eh, we don't know. We don't want to go out. Because maybe they're going to confuse me if they see me in the mall and I'm going to be chained for, I don't know, 48 hours, or maybe they're going to deport me even though I have papers." A search for a solution Sol works for Shay Myers, a farmer whose onions grow in fields not far from where the Snake River separates Oregon and Idaho. The third-generation farmer operates Owyhee Produce, which grows one in every 20 onions consumed in America. Myers, 45, is also TikTok influencer with 692,000 followers and posts videos about his farm and the intricacies of agriculture. But lately the Republican farmer has been highlighting his mostly foreign-born laborers - from Mexico, Central America, Peru and Colombia - who he says are critical. The majority of his workers, which can number 350 during harvests, are here on H-2A visas. While such workers represent about 13% of the nation's farmworkers, the number of certified H-2A workers grew by 64.7% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the share of unauthorized workers has dropped to about 42% from from 55% in 2001. But it's also a bureaucratic and expensive program, he said. Farmers have to prove no domestic workers are available or willing to do the job. They provide housing and adhere to wage-premiums meant to keep the program from pushing down wages of U.S. residents who do similar jobs, and must follow rules such as overtime that differ among states. And it's time-limited. Labor groups also criticize the H-2A visa program, saying it often requires workers to stick with one employer which makes them vulnerable to wage theft or poor housing. Myers said that's not the case at his farm. He grew up and went to school in the area with undocumented families. And today his children do, too. "We lose from every angle. The right-wingers come at us ... 'You won't give jobs to Americans," Myers said. "And then the left wing side of the discussion is, well, all you do is bring H-2A workers and they work for you like slaves." He, too, wants a more flexible worker program and creating a path to legal status for undocumented workers here for 10 years and longer. He said the deportations have proved a problem both ethically for farm families and economically for the industry. "Let's find a solution," he said on one video. Earlier this month, Trump suggested in Iowa - a leading corn and pork producer that relies heavily on migrant workers - that his administration would seek to permit some migrants without legal status to stay on farms, the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "If a farmer's willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" he said, referencing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who was with him on the Iowa trip. "You know, we're going to be good with it. Because we don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they're doing right now." U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins cited plans to make the H-2A program "cheaper, more efficient and more effective for those farmers." The United Farm Workers favors paths to legal status for those already here over simply expanding the guestworker program for new arrivals, who they say would still be more prone to labor abuses. In Congress, Republican U.S. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Veronica Escobar of Texas introduced the DIGNITY Act. Among its many provisions is a seven-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution. "We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals," Salazar said at a news conference. But House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Wall Street Journal that immigration overhauls would face an uphill battle. Rollins has also suggested that the country could fill jobs with Americans who will face Medicaid work requirements, something farmers immediately shot down. Farming groups call for realism Cunha, head of Nisei Farmers League, was among those very blunt about that idea: "That's just not going to work," he said. He knows firsthand. In 1998, during President Bill Clinton's Welfare-to-Work push, Cunha helped launch an effort in 10 California counties to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to help fill tens of thousands of farmworker jobs. People would be aided with child care, transportation and training. Just 500 people applied. And only three took jobs. None of them lasted more than two days, he said. Crops were lost. 'It was a total disaster," he said. A similar result took place in North Carolina, according to a 2013 report by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Center for Global Development. When North Carolina had more than 489,000 unemployed residents, a growers association offered 6,500 jobs. Of 245 domestic workers hired, only seven lasted the entire season. It's not likely he contended that higher wages alone would have Americans flocking to the jobs, he argued. Not only can the work be physically grueling or dangerous, Cunha said it is not the unskilled work that many people assume. It takes experience and skill to prune a fruit tree or know which fruits to pick now and which to return for later. At a recent farm training in California that included topics like heat illness, Cunha said workers instead were full of questions about avoiding run-ins with ICE. Should they drive different routes or not wear hats and bandanas? One asked if he should shave his beard to look less like a farmworker. For now, he said, as the area's remaining harvests are closing in, it's stressful for both farmers and farmworkers. "Labor is tight, but it's holding. And as long as - we pray every day - they stay out of the valley, then we'll make it through this season," he said. "But we do need to deal with it. We should not have to go through this type of tension. And workers should not have to worry about shaving their beard."
Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Why couldn't Britain have dealt with the EU like Trump?
The more you look at the trade deal negotiated between the US and the EU, the more you want to ask: why couldn't Britain have dealt with the EU like that? Why has every UK Prime Minister since Theresa May acted so feebly in the face of the EU's tactics and ended up getting such a poor deal out of the EU? Trump has get pretty much everything he wanted. Goods imported into the US from the EU will in future be subject to tariffs of 15 per cent – half the rate that Trump had threatened but far higher than existed prior to 'Liberation Day' on 2 April. What has Ursula von der Leyen got in return? Nothing at all, other than the punitive tariffs being dropped. She has agreed to lowering tariffs on imports from the EU, in some cases to zero. She has also agreed to the EU buying more products from the US, including liquified natural gas (LNG), making a mockery of the EU's net-zero policy. Like Britain, the EU has wound down its fossil fuel industry on the pretext that it is yesterday's energy and we won't need it for much longer as we transition to clean renewables – but then it commits itself to buying increased quantities of LNG from the US. Say what you like about Trump, but it is easy to argue that he has proven a far stronger defender of his country's interests than Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer. Britain is nearly as important a destination for EU exports as the US: in 2024, 21 per cent of its exports went to the US and 14 per cent to Britain. Yet no Prime Minister has properly used this leverage to give Britain any advantage. May got nowhere in the end but would have committed Britain to becoming a rule-taker from the EU. Johnson agreed to place an internal UK border down the Irish Sea. Sunak did a little better in trying to resolve this, but then Starmer has put us back closer to where May wanted to take us: agreeing to EU rules on plant and animal products while having no say in the making of those rules. Why did UK Brexit negotiators never threaten punitive tariffs on German cars and French wine? Instead – and in spite of Theresa May's mantra of 'no deal is better than a bad deal' – we acted as if no deal was never an option. Simultaneously, we treated Trump – whose first presidential term lasted throughout the Brexit negotiations – as a kind of oaf who was destroying America's reputation. Had our leaders emulated him rather than scorned him we would be in a lot better position now. It all starts to look a bit different, however, if you look at Trump's trade negotiations from the point of view of consumers rather than producers and ask instead: has Trump really scored such a victory? If you are an American motorist who fancies a new car, your choice has just narrowed, and many of the options available have just increased in price. It is not just consumers, either, who may feel this is not quite the victory for the US it might look like on the surface. Most manufacturers rely on international supply chains. While tariffs may help snuff out some of their competition, they will in future face higher prices of raw materials and components. This does not appear to feature all that much in Trump's mercantilist mind. To him – and not just him, because many world leaders seem to think the same – exporting stuff is a strength and importing stuff a weakness. When you think of things that way, the US has been cheated by the lopsided tariffs which have long existed between the US and the rest of the world. Yet the fact remains that the US has done extremely well out of its low import tariffs. Its economy has grown far faster than those of its more protectionist rivals. So yes, it is easy to admire Trump's negotiating tactics. The whirlwind of the past few months, with threats followed by negotiations and flattery, has been a wonder to watch. It is sad that UK leaders have lacked the courage to act in such a brazen fashion towards the EU. Yet that doesn't mean that the US will end up being the big winner from higher import tariffs. On the contrary, overall the US economy is likely to grow less strongly as a result.
