Initially, immigrant families residing in the Big Apple have been given paid bank accounts by authorities in New York City.
A few immigrant communities in the city were given out the first batch of debit cards on Monday, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams ‘ business, which is rumored to be intended for the unlawful immigrants to use to pay for food and baby supplies.
Despite common uproar, the initiative is a part of a reportedly$ 53 million captain system to distribute prepaid credit cards to migration families living in hotels.
The program, which the mayor’s office confirmed will provide migrant families of four with two children under 5 with up to$ 350 each week until the end of their stay, began with a limited number of families on Monday and will expand to about 115 families, or roughly 460 people, over the next week.
The prepaid cards may only be used at bodegas, food shops, supermarkets and convenience stores. According to Adams ‘ business, applicants for the program may submit an affidavit declaring that they will only use the funds to purchase food and baby items, or that they could lose access to the money.
Also, the mayor’s office confirmed that the captain program was launched using a phased view, starting with only a few hotels. Officials from the city have stated that the tickets will be used for a week at a time and that their usage had been monitored.
The accounts are reportedly being given to immigrant families who are staying at hotels that are being used as emergency shelters at the state’s appearance center, the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan.
Mobility Capital Finance, a company based in New Jersey, has worked with the area to implement the plan.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a town hall spokesperson noted that New York City was “excited” about launching the work, describing it as a” expense- saving measure]that ] will replace the state’s current method of providing non- perishable food containers to migrant people staying in hotels, much of which is often discarded”.
The director said that a large portion of our success is attributable to our ongoing efforts to find new ways to better serve the hundreds of people and individuals who come every day as well as the long-time New Yorkers experiencing poverty who are already in our care. ” That is why we are excited to build an impressive, low-cost pilot programme with Mobility Capital Finance to deliver pre-paid cards to migrant families so they can just buy food and baby supplies.”
The pilot program is anticipated to save New York City taxpayers more than$ 600, 000 per month and$ 7 million annually, the spokesperson added. To ensure that the money is spent on food and baby supplies, the prepaid cards can only be used at a select number of stores.
Migrants could receive more money from the city than the state gives low- and elderly New Yorkers under SNAP benefits under the pilot program, which is scheduled to last for six weeks.
According to the state’s website, single households are eligible for up to$ 291 a month in SNAP benefits aimed at providing “low- income working people, senior citizens, the disabled and others” money to buy food products.
According to Fox News ‘ Bryan Llenas, the migrant pilot program also provides more than twice the amount the state pays each month in services for single veterans.
Mayor Adams, a Democrat, has vehemently defended the program and the “misinformation” surrounding it.
Last month, Adams made the remarks during a hearing for the state legislative budget in Albany that” we’re not handing out American Express cards to people.”
We discovered that the food delivery service we set up during the crisis was ineffective because we think we want to reduce the cost of 20 % of the migrant travel. So we have a pilot project with 500 people where we are giving them food cards, so instead of having to deliver food and have people eat it, we were seeing wasting food, he said at the time.” That is going to be spent$ 12 a day.
” So we are going to save money on delivery, we’re going to save money on people wasting food, and this is a pilot project we’re going to use that is going to save us$ 6.7 million a year”, he added. And if the pilot proves to be successful, we’ll try to extend it across the entire system, looking for more cost-effective, smarter ways to deal with this crisis that was left in our lap.
The mayor’s explanation came in February during an annual hearing, known as” Tin Cup Day”, when mayors make budgetary requests before the state legislature.
By the summer of 2025, the New York City government has predicted that it will spend at least$ 10.6 billion on immigrants. Adams told lawmakers that the state pledge would only cover one-third of the city’s migrant costs, despite the fact that New York State has already pledged to contribute about$ 2 billion to the current budget cycle.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, another Democrat, has suggested the state earmark$ 2.4 billion to go toward migrant services in the next budget cycle, but the details have not been ironed out before the state legislature. Even Hochul’s proposed$ 600 million allocation, according to the New York Daily News, would be insufficient to meet the city’s budgetary needs in its subsequent budget cycle, according to Adams ‘ office.
Since 2022, roughly 180 000 immigrants have arrived in New York City, consuming much of the city’s resources as authorities have struggled to locate them housing. Texas Gov. In an effort to assist asylum seekers in getting to sanctuary courts, Greg Abbott has bused them to New York and other cities, as well as to draw attention to the daily crisis facing border communities.
This report was written by Fox News ‘ Danielle Wallace and Chris Pandolfo.
