New York Metropolis mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, plans to file a lawsuit towards the Trump administration after the federal authorities secretly revoked greater than $80 million in funding for the town’s migrant shelters.
Counsel for the Adams administration despatched a letter Friday to metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander saying that the town’s Regulation Division deliberate to take authorized motion by the tip of subsequent week to have the $80.5 million in FEMA funds taken earlier this week returned, based on the New York Publish. Lander is operating towards Adams in June’s Democrat major election for the town’s mayor.
“The Law Department is currently drafting litigation papers with respect to this matter,” company counsel Mureil Goode-Trufant informed Lander in a letter, the outlet reported.
“We intend to initiate legal action by February 21, 2025. As the Law Department is representing the City of New York in this matter, there is no need for an authorization for the Comptroller’s Office to engage external legal counsel,” the letter reads.
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New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams departs Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York Metropolis on Friday, November 1, 2024. (Adam Grey for Fox Information Digital )
The letter got here after Lander urged the Adams administration to both file a lawsuit or authorize him to rent his personal attorneys to sue Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
“Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot afford to waste any more time. If the Mayor would prefer to spend his days advancing President Trump’s agenda instead of fighting for New Yorkers, then the Law Department must allow me to do so,” Lander mentioned in a press release Friday.
“Recovering these funds is imperative, and any action, or non-action, allowing the Trump administration to proceed without consequence would set a dangerous precedent and make our City a target for the next four years,” he added.
The revocation of FEMA funds from New York Metropolis’s accounts occurred Tuesday and was first found by Lander the next day.
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New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams departs Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse in New York Metropolis on Friday, November 1, 2024. (Adam Grey for Fox Information Digital )
“Let’s be crystal clear: This is highway robbery. Elon Musk, with no legal authority, illegally seized federal funds from New Yorkers,” Lander mentioned Wednesday.
Musk claimed that DOGE discovered a $59 million FEMA cost to New York Metropolis was getting used on luxurious inns to deal with unlawful migrants. Trump later repeated Musk’s declare and argued that “massive fraud” was taking place.
New York Metropolis was awarded two separate grants in the course of the Biden administration — one for $58.6 million and one other for $21.9 million — as the town tried to pay to deal with migrants, a lot of whom had been despatched by Texas officers who had been pissed off with the Biden administration’s dealing with of the inflow of migrants coming into the U.S. by way of the Southern Border.
The funds had been made below the Shelter and Companies Program that Congress appropriated $650 million for final yr to assist native governments reply to the migrant disaster.
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams departs federal court docket in Decrease Manhattan on Friday, September 27, 2024. (Rashid Umar Abbasi for Fox Information Digital)
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The FEMA cash, which was funded by U.S. Customs and Border Safety, paid $12.50 an evening reimbursement for every lodge room. The town mentioned many of the inns used to deal with migrants are usually not luxurious. The rest of the funds went towards safety, meals and different companies for migrants.
This got here after the Division of Justice ordered prosecutors to drop their federal corruption case towards Adams, who had been indicted on expenses of fraud, bribery and soliciting marketing campaign contributions from foreigners. Some have raised issues that Adams could also be beholden to the president as a result of his case was dropped.
