New York City now offers prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants.
This is not a joke.
RELATED: New York City’s $53 million debit card program for illegal aliens is much worse than initially reported
Free money for newcomers!
Just two weeks after signing a controversial $53 million no-bid contract for this deal, New York Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has already launched its program to provide prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants.
The New York Post reports that “staff at the New Jersey company, Mobility Capital Finance, handed out eight pre-loaded 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 criticism after The Post first revealed that the contract had been signed without a typical bidding process,” the paper notes.
The story continued:
The program could be a boon for the tech startup, giving it the potential to earn $1.8 million by taking a portion of the funds loaded onto each Mastercard, according to the contract.
The administration scaled back the original plan, which would have filled the cards with a month’s worth of money for food and baby supplies. Now the cash will have to be replenished every week.
A family with two parents and children 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 staff at the Roosevelt Hotel said they were unaware of the cards that had been handed out.
The pilot program will cover about 460 of the 64,500 migrants in the city’s care as City Hall evaluates its success.
City Hall later indicates the move is designed to save money. They claim that “the new process of feeding asylum seekers could save up to $600,000 a month.”
Incentivize illegal immigrants by giving 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 prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants, allowing them to spend the funds at local bodegas. Illegal aliens staying at the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan will be given prepaid cards. They can use them to spend on food and will reportedly only work in bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores.”
Just when we should be discouraging illegal immigration, New York City seems determined to encourage it.
Between our wide open borders and stunts like this, why do we continue to bring this problem upon ourselves?