Mayor Eric Adams has introduced the tip of a controversial taxpayer-funded initiative distributing pre-paid debit playing cards to unlawful immigrants.
This system, which was initially launched as a pilot earlier this 12 months with a $53 million finances aimed to help round 3,000 unlawful immigrants and was set to broaden its attain to over 7,300 people throughout the subsequent half-year, won’t see its contract renewed after January 2025.
The debit card initiative was designed to allow unlawful immigrant households, quickly housed in upscale motels just like the Roosevelt Resort, to purchase their “groceries and child provides” as an alternative of receiving predetermined meals providers.
Managed by the New Jersey-based Mobility Capital Finance (MoCaFi), this system allowed for a variable quantity to be loaded onto the playing cards primarily based on household dimension and revenue, with a four-person family receiving as a lot as $1,000 per thirty days. These playing cards might be reloaded each 28 days.
In accordance with the Office of the NY State Comptroller (OSC), by Could 31, 2024, town reported spending $1.47 billion in Fiscal Yr 2023 and $2.72 billion in Fiscal Yr 2024 on bills associated to “asylum seekers.”
This newest money infusion brings the whole expenditure on this initiative to an eye-watering $2 billion, in keeping with the New York Post.
Transferring ahead, town plans to revert to meals supply providers for unlawful immigrants beneath their care within the resort voucher program.
PIX11 reported:
The Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated the contract for the pilot program won’t be renewed when it ends in January 2025.
“As we transfer in the direction of extra aggressive contracting for asylum seeker applications, we now have chosen to not renew the emergency contract for this pilot program as soon as the one-year time period concludes,” the Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated.
Town will as an alternative transition again to meals supply providers for migrants of their care within the resort voucher program, in keeping with the Metropolis Corridor spokesperson.
“For over two years, we now have offered care to greater than 222,000 migrants whereas saving $2 billion in asylum seeker-related prices. Because of our resettlement efforts, intensive case administration, and national-leading Asylum Utility Assist Middle, greater than 160,000 migrants have left our shelter system and brought their subsequent steps in the direction of self-sufficiency,” the Metropolis Corridor spokesperson stated.
