NYC Mayor Adams to Sue Trump Admin Over $80 Million Plus for Illegal Aliens [WATCH]

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is preparing to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration after federal officials withdrew more than $80 million in migrant aid funding from the city’s accounts, according to a letter obtained by The New York Post.

The Adams administration’s legal team informed City Comptroller Brad Lander on Friday that they are drafting litigation to recover the $80.5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) payments, which were pulled by federal authorities on Tuesday without the mayor’s prior knowledge.

The city’s Law Department plans to initiate legal action by February 21.

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“The Law Department is currently drafting litigation papers with respect to this matter,” wrote Corporation Counsel Mureil Goode-Trufant in the letter.

“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 was sent shortly after Lander urged Adams to either file a lawsuit himself or authorize him to hire outside legal counsel to sue the Trump administration and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head Elon Musk.

“Given the gravity of the situation, we cannot afford to waste any more time,” Lander said in a statement Friday.

“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.”

The funds were pulled from New York City’s accounts on Tuesday, with Lander publicly revealing the development the following morning. He accused Trump and Musk of orchestrating an act of “highway robbery.”

Musk defended the move, stating that DOGE had “discovered” that $59 million in FEMA aid to the city was being spent on “luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants.”

The @DOGE 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…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 10, 2025

BREAKING: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is firing four FEMA employees after they illegally sent $59M to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal immigrants.

The DHS released a statement to Fox News stating, “Four employees being fired today for circumventing… pic.twitter.com/5l96aq6GzB

— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 11, 2025

Don’t ever forget that FEMA kicked ENTIRE FAMILIES out of their hotels and into the ice and snow in Western North Carolina…

…while giving $59,000,000 to let illegal immigrants live in luxury hotels in New York City

AND THEN THEY LIED TO US ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS!!!!! pic.twitter.com/hRRMrmPurV

— Matt Van Swol (@matt_vanswol) February 10, 2025

Trump later reinforced Musk’s claim, calling the payments an example of “massive fraud.”

New York City had applied for and was awarded two grants totaling $58.6 million and $21.9 million under the Biden-Harris administration as officials sought federal assistance to cover the costs of sheltering migrants arriving from the southern border, according to both city and federal sources.

City officials pushed back against Musk’s assertion, explaining that only $19 million of the withdrawn funds was allocated for reimbursing hotel expenses.

They emphasized that the funding had been approved by Congress.

The payments were part of the Shelter and Services Program, a federal initiative that allocated $650 million in 2024 to help cities recover the costs of the migrant crisis.

New York City officials estimate their total migrant-related expenses at $7 billion.

The FEMA grants, funded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, covered $12.50 per night for each hotel room used to shelter migrants.

City officials stated that most of the approximately 150 hotels being used were not luxury accommodations. The rest of the funding was designated for security, food, and other services for migrants.

It remained unclear until Friday whether Adams would take legal action against the Trump administration.

The Department of Justice recently ordered prosecutors to drop a federal corruption investigation into Adams, a move some of his allies feared would leave him politically vulnerable to the new administration.

With the lawsuit expected to be filed next week, the dispute over federal migrant aid funding is poised to become a high-profile legal battle between Adams and the Trump administration.

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