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FEMA officials fired after Musk claims they paid to house migrants in 'luxury' NYC hotels

2:46
MARK RALSTON / AFP via Getty Images
What is FEMA?
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
ByLuke Barr
February 11, 2025, 4:52 PM

After Elon Musk complained about federal spending for housing migrants in what he called "luxury hotels" housing in New York City, the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday four FEMA officials who it said made the payments had been fired.

The firings include the agency's chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist, DHS said in a statement that labeled them "deep state activists."

The money came from the FEMA grant program.

"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 DHS statement said.

Recently arrived migrants board a bus back to their temporary tent shelters at Floyd Bennett Field, a former airfield in Brooklyn, on January 04, 2024 in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Further details about the firings were not immediately released.

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MORE: Trump's border czar: 'If you're in the country illegally, you got a problem'

Musk claimed on X that his Department of Government Efficiency "discovered" that FEMA spent over $50 million to "luxury" hotels for "migrant housing," and doing so violated the president's executive order calling for an immigration crackdown.

A short time later, acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton posted on X that payments to those luxury hotels had been suspended as of Saturday and “personnel will be held accountable.”

Trump echoed Musk's criticism of FEMA and continued to bash it in a social media post on Truth Social Tuesday.

He said that the agency is being investigated due to allegedly mismanaging money and not helping North Carolina; and that the agency should be "TERMINATED."

ABC News' Justin Gomez, Oren Oppenheim and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

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