New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, is expanding a program to give newly arrived immigrants preloaded debit cards to buy food, paid for by New Yorkers, some of the highest-taxed residents in the country.
Governor Adams launched the immigrant debit card program in February, noting that it would cost about $53 million to distribute prepaid food cards to about 500 immigrant families. The program comes despite a recent survey finding that 56% of New Yorkers live near the poverty line.
Now Adams is considering dramatically expanding the number of immigrants eligible for the debit cards. The New York Times reveal:
The debit cards are expected to be distributed to more than 7,300 immigrants over the next six months, at a cost of about $2.6 million.City officials said the move builds on a pilot program they began earlier this year with about 900 households and about 3,000 migrants. [Emphasis added]
…
More than 60,000 migrants are currently under the city’s protection, and the program has expanded from three hotels to 17, with the potential to accommodate about 1,230 people per month.or about 2 percent of the total immigrant population. [Emphasis added]
The program is part of a contract with Mobility Capital Finance, or MoCaFi, that city officials say could ultimately cost the city $53 million, of which $2 million will be paid to the company and the rest will be distributed to households. Under the pilot program, a family of four with young children received about $350 per week for a month. [Emphasis added]
More than 200,000 immigrants have arrived in New York City in the past two years, but President Joe Biden has done little to stem mass immigration, despite Adams repeatedly saying such levels are “devastating” the city’s quality of life.
WATCH: NYC Mayor Eric Adams: The immigration crisis will destroy New York City
In addition to the immigrant debit card program, Mayor Adams has implemented an extensive immigrant hotel policy in which hotels are paid by city taxpayers to provide free rooms to newly arrived immigrants.
As a result, more than 16,500 New York City hotel rooms are taken over by immigrants, driving up hotel prices and making the city more expensive than ever for tourists and visitors. Last year, the average hotel room rate in the city was $300 One night.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter. here.
