Ten Days Before the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, DHS Is Still Holding Back $87 Million of New York’s Counterterrorism Money — the Governor Calls It "Defunding the Police" and the Homeland Security Secretary Says Sanctuary States Should Not Get "One Federal Penny"
Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani appeared together in midtown Manhattan on September 1, 2026 to demand that the Department of Homeland Security release roughly $87 million in federal counterterrorism grant money that New York says it is still owed — about 40 percent of the state's expected allocation. New York was originally cut by $187 million, some 86 percent of what it expected. A federal court order restored roughly $100 million of that, but state and city officials say the remaining shortfall still hits NYPD counterterrorism and intelligence operations, FDNY specialized teams, National Guard deployments and bomb squads. Hochul turned the administration's own slogan back on it, saying that withholding the money amounts to "defunding the police." The state's congressional Democrats — Schumer, Gillibrand, Jeffries, Nadler, Goldman, Meng, Morelle, Latimer, Mannion and Kennedy — pressed the same point, repeatedly invoking the approaching 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. DHS answered that New York is sitting on $300 million in unspent FEMA money, and Secretary Markwayne Mullin said separately that he does not think sanctuary jurisdictions should receive "one federal penny."
“I don't think we should be sending one federal penny to sanctuary states and sanctuary cities.”