Musk said Monday morning on his social media platform X that his team just uncovered that the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency dispatched $59 million this past week to reimburse New York City for the massive amount of money it spent housing illegal immigrants that traveled to the sanctuary city during the Biden administration.

“The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants,” Musk said. “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.”

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

After taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that established a council to determine whether FEMA should be eliminated, given Trump’s “serious concerns of political bias” within the agency. The Trump administration has also sought to pause federal grant funding broadly, but it has been halted in courts.

Trump has touted plans to do away with FEMA after it was revealed this fall that the agency purposely did not help Trump voters affected by natural disasters in North Carolina and Georgia.

The new council on FEMA is supposed to meet by March 20 and provide a full report to Trump by July 20.

In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) began offering free state taxpayer-funded bus rides from various parts of the Texas border to sanctuary cities up north, including New York City. Thousands of other illegal immigrants boarded flights from the border to New York.

The arrival of more than 223,000 illegal immigrants in New York City between 2022 and 2024 put significant pressure on Democratic Mayor Eric Adams to house and care for them. The city opted to house people in hotels in midtown, including some dubbed higher-end establishments.

The city spent $1.47 billion in response to the immigrant influx in fiscal 2023, with just one-third of that covered by the state. Last year, the city spent $3.75 billion, with one-third of the bill footed by the state.

The alleged reimbursement came weeks after Abbott requested that Congress reimburse his state for the $11 billion spent on border security during the Biden administration. Abbott recently said he had not received a response from the federal government.

President Biden left our nation defenseless against unprecedented infiltration of criminals and terrorists.

As a result, Texas spent over $11.1 billion to secure the border.

Today, I sent letters to Congress requesting the federal government reimburse Texas in full. pic.twitter.com/uCfsuIQ23M

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) January 23, 2025

FEMA, New York City, and the DHS did not respond to requests for comment.