The Trump administration has dismissed Mary Comans, Chief Financial Officer of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), along with three other FEMA employees, over their roles in disbursing federal funds for migrant housing in New York City. The move follows mounting scrutiny over the agency’s handling of congressionally appropriated funds and a public outcry fueled by social media.
The firings came just one day after a social media post by Elon Musk alleged that FEMA had unlawfully allocated $59 million in disaster relief funds to house migrants in high-end hotels. Though New York City officials quickly clarified that the funding had been properly allocated under President Biden and had not come from disaster relief grants, FEMA’s acting director, Cameron Hamilton, announced that payments would be suspended and that “personnel will be held accountable.”
By Tuesday morning, the Trump administration had followed through on that pledge, terminating Comans and three other FEMA employees. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees FEMA, stated that the firings were for “circumventing leadership to unilaterally make egregious payments for luxury N.Y.C. hotels for migrants.”
Comans, a longtime public servant, had built a reputation as an efficient and effective leader in the federal government. Before she was appointed FEMA’s CFO, she served as the agency’s Acting Chief Operating Officer and Acting External Affairs Director and held numerous leadership positions across DHS.