The first role of Trump Regime Media is to never question anything Donald Trump or his administration does, and Bob Unruh served servile stenography in a Feb. 10 article:
There’s more bad news for those working on all those leftover programs from Joe Biden to subsidize illegal aliens.
Now DOGE chief Elon Musk says he’s found out that FEMA spent $59 million last week to house illegals in luxury hotels in New York City, and he wants the money back.
In a social media statement, Musk, chief of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, said his team “just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants. Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order. That money is meant for American disaster relief and instead is being spent on high end hotels for illegals! A clawback demand will be made today to recoup those funds.”
Unruh wrote in an article the next day:
Four workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are being fired for unilaterally sending a massive $59 million payment for hotels in New York City to house illegal aliens.
The “egregious payment” came about after they decided to go about “circumventing leadership” on the issue of payments of federal monies to sanctuary cities.
Fox News reported the firings come after Elon Musk explained on social media, “The DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.”
But that’s a lie, as PolitiFact reported:
FEMA did not give money directly to New York hotels; it did give money to New York City. That move was neither illegal nor secretive. It was part of a program that Congress created and funded using money from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund, which is primarily used after natural disasters. The money did not fund luxury hotel rooms for immigrants.
[…]Musk did not respond to PolitiFact’s request for evidence that FEMA sent New York City $59 million “last week.”
FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program website shows how much money state and local governments and nonprofit organizations have received from the program. However, the data is only updated through fiscal year 2024. In 2024, New York City’s Office of Management and Budget received $59 million.
The New York City’s mayor office told The Associated Press Feb. 10 that it received $81 million from the federal government the week of Feb. 3 in two payments — one for $59 million, $19 million of which went to direct hotel costs.
[…]The U.S. General Services Administration sets the per diem rates for New York City hotel rooms at between $179 and $342 per night, depending on the month. Luxury, five-star hotels in New York City cost around $400 to $1,000 a night, according to a search on Expedia, a travel booking site.
As of this writing, Unruh’s article remains live and uncorrected. Still, Unruh wrote a Feb. 12 follow-up that is just as false:
Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, has confirmed the return to the federal government of $59 million that workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency has dispatched to New York City for the benefit of illegal aliens it is housing.
The decision to send the money violated President Donald Trump’s orders against fraud and misspending by the federal bureaucracy and four workers at FEMA were fired for their actions.
Fox News reports DHS has confirmed it has “taken back” the money.
“Secretary Noem has clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels,” a DHS official said.
Given that the money was never spent on “illegal aliens” at “luxury hotels,” it is not possible for that money to have been “clawed back.” But Unruh is paid to be part of Trump Regime Media, not to report the truth.