New York City is now giving prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants.
This is not a joke.
Free Money For Newcomers!
Just two weeks after signing a controversial no-bid $53 million contract for this deal, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has already launched its program to give prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants.
The New York Post reports that “staffers with the New Jersey company, Mobility Capital Finance, handed out eight preloaded Mastercards at the Roosevelt Hotel on Monday as part of its pilot program that will expand to 115 cards by next week, according to a City Hall spokesperson.”
“The one-year deal came under fire after The Post first revealed the contract was inked without a typical bidding process,” the newspaper notes.
The story continued:
The program could be a boon for the tech start-up, giving it the potential to net $1.8 million by taking a cut of the funds loaded onto each Mastercard, according to the contract.
The administration scaled back the original plan, which would have loaded up the cards with a month’s worth of money for food and baby supplies. Cash will now need to be replenished each week.
A family with two parents and kids under five will receive about $350 a week, the spokesperson said.
The Post was unable to track down any of the migrant families who received the cards Monday. Even the staffers at the Roosevelt Hotel said they weren’t aware the cards had been handed out.
The pilot program will cover about 460 out of the 64,500 migrants in the city’s care as City Hall evaluates its success.
City Hall subsequently indicates the move is designed to save money. They state that “the new process of getting asylum seekers fed could save up to $600,000 per month.”
Incentivizing Illegal Immigrants By Handing Them Debit Cards
This is not new news. In February, The Political Insider reported, “New York City is launching a $53 million program to provide pre-paid debit cards to illegal immigrants, allowing them to spend the funds in local bodegas. Illegal aliens staying at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan will be given pre-paid cards. They can use them to spend on food and will reportedly only work at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.”
At precisely the time we should be discouraging illegal immigration, New York City seems hell-bent on incentivizing it.
Between our wide open border and stunts like this, why do we keep bringing this problem on ourselves?
