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New York City on Friday sued the Trump administration for taking back $80.5 million of grants intended to cover part of the city’s cost of housing migrants.

In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, New York City dismissed claims by federal officials that it was misusing the funds, stating that the February 11 money grab foiled Congress’ purpose in appropriating the money.

City officials sued after the funds paid on February 4 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency went missing from a bank account, having been taken back by the agency.

In a post via X on February 12, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said he had clawed back the full payment that FEMA deep state activists unilaterally gave to New York City migrant hotels.

The White House has not yet commented on the lawsuit.

New York City demands the return of the $80.5 million and an injunction against similar further takings.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, has accused FEMA of wasting taxpayer money in Democratic-led areas.

Trump adviser Elon Musk said in a February 10 post on X that his government efficiency team had found that $59 million of the $80.5 million went toward housing migrants in luxury hotels.

“Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk wrote.

Noem and a FEMA official also stated that the city misused FEMA funds to turn the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan into a migrant shelter, and allowed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to use the hotel as a base of operations.

According to the New York City, Musk’s post was filled with inaccuracies, while statements by Noem and the FEMA official that migrants housed at the Roosevelt had engaged in criminal activity were unsupported.

In a statement announcing the lawsuit, New York City’s Democratic mayor, Eric Adams, said their immigration system was broken, but the cost of fixing it should not overwhelmingly fall on the city alone.

“The $80 million that FEMA approved, paid and then rescinded – after the city spent more than $7 billion in the last three years – is the bare minimum our taxpayers deserve,” Adams said.