A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request from New York City to temporarily bar the Trump administration from clawing back over $80 million in federal reimbursement funds for providing shelter and services to migrants.
Manhattan Federal Judge Jennifer Rearden ruled from the bench after hearing arguments from attorneys for the city and the federal government.
Among other conclusions, she found that the city had means of recovering the money if victorious in the case, meaning the potential harm caused as she considers its request for a preliminary injunction was not inherently irreparable, a standard that had to be met for the city to succeed in its request for a temporary restraining order.
“In sum, the city has identified no irreparable harm warranting the extraordinary relief it seeks,” the judge said.
The city brought the suit last month after the Trump administration, on Feb. 11, took the money without notice from its central bank account, which had been paid out a week before by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Federal officials have claimed, without evidence, that New York City had been funding “alien housing” at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown that a Venezuelan gang was using as a recruiting center and base of operations.
The clawback came as Elon Musk — who Trump has made responsible for drastically downsizing and reshaping the federal government — claimed, without evidence, that New York City had spent millions on housing migrants at “luxury hotels.”
Trump’s secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirsti Noem, later tweeted that she had “clawed back” the FEMA money “deep state activists unilaterally gave to NYC migrant hotels.”
This developing story will be updated.