New York City Mayor Eric Adams has ended a controversial program that provided debit cards to illegal immigrants.
On Thursday, Adams announced that he is ending a controversial one-year pilot program that gave 2,600 migrant families debit cards to purchase food and baby supplies.
The debit Mastercards were preloaded with $350 a week in free cash for migrant families living rent-free in hotels.
The feds are investigating a city contract awarded to Mobility Capital Finance. The $53 million one-year “emergency” contract drew backlash when the city failed to conduct a typical bidding process for the contract.
READ ALSO: Illegals to get interest-free loans with no monthly payments
The debit card pilot program was criticized when it was announced in February. GOP lawmakers questioned whether it was fair to give preferential treatment to immigrants over citizens living in poverty.
Mayor Adams, a Democrat, defended the program, arguing that it would bring down the costs of feeding immigrants.
But after Donald Trump was reelected in a historic political comeback on Tuesday, Mayor Adams decided not to renew the “emergency” debit card program.
Adams said that the migrant population was “decreasing” in New York City, so there was no need to renew the emergency contract.
“It was an emergency, and now we’re moving in another direction,” Mayor Adams said on WABC-TV.
According to the New York Times, more than 200,000 migrants arrived in the city since 2022, putting a strain on city services.
But the flow of migrant arrivals has slowed in recent months. The program provided debit cards to more than 2,600 migrant families staying in city-funded hotels, said William Fowler, a spokesman for the mayor.
Under the program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month, with the possibility of renewal. The city has spent about $3.6 million on the program, city officials said.
The city will continue to deliver free meals to migrant families staying at hotels under an existing contract with a company called Garner Environmental Services.
