Earlier this month, New York City announced a partnership with Mobility Capital Finance to launch a pilot program that will give newly arrived immigrant families a rechargeable prepaid card to buy food and groceries.
SNAP and WIC, federally funded health and nutrition programs, already use similar prepaid cards.
The New York Post reported that the program could cost the city over $53 million.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, in an interview with FOX 5 NY, clarified doubts about the program.
“First, we want to be very clear: each immigrant will receive about $13 per day, so it’s not automatically $1,000, as has been reported,” Adams said.
Amid a massive influx of immigrants to the city, many have associated the program with providing untraceable, unlimited, and unregulated accounts to foreigners.
“Lunatic Democrats are handing out credit cards to foreigners while Americans are struggling,” reads a post on X, formerly Twitter, which received approximately 7,900 likes and over 3,800 shares by Tuesday (Feb. 20).
What are prepaid cards for migrants?
The program will replace the boxes of non-perishable food given to migrant families housed in hotels like the Roosevelt.
The cards will be loaded with about $12.52 per person, every day for 28 days, according to Kayla Mamelak, spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“This will be part of our cost-saving measures. We will save $600,000 per month, $7.2 million per year,” Adams told FOX 5 NY.
The program will start with 500 immigrant families with children already living in short-term hotels.
The cards can only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.
Authorities hope that using the cards at local businesses will help stimulate the city’s economy.
The immigration crisis remains a major concern. New York estimates that the cost of caring for immigrants will reach $12 billion over the next three years.
City officials stated that if the pilot program is successful, they are considering expanding it to all immigrant families housed in hotels.
Source: Fox News