New York Starts Handing Out Prepaid Debit Cards to Illegal Immigrants

Dozens of recently arrived illegal immigrants camp outside of New York's Roosevelt Hotel, which has been made into a reception center, as they try to secure temporary housing in New York City on Aug. 1, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New York City officials on March 25 started handing out prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants as part of a $53 million pilot program that has drawn criticism over whether the prospect of “free money” is incentivizing more unlawful border crossings.

The first batch of the cards was given out on March 25 to a handful of families, and that will expand to roughly 460 people by next week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s office confirmed to Fox News.

The Epoch Times previously reported on the prepaid card program, under which New York City awarded a $53 million contract to a company called Mobility Capital Finance to create and distribute the prepaid cards, called immediate response cards.

Under the program, the cards would first be delivered to the Roosevelt Hotel, the first touchpoint for illegal immigrants arriving in the city, with records indicating that the first to receive the cards will be families with children under the care of NYC’s Housing Preservation and Development agency.

City Hall said that the prepaid cards can be used only at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores and recipients will have to sign a pledge promising to use the cards only to buy food and baby supplies.

The program has faced criticism, including over the use of taxpayer funds to provide services to people who entered the country by flouting the law, and over fears that they would incentivize illegal immigration.

Mixed Messages?

Mr. Adams defended the use of the prepaid cards during an in-person media appearance in Albany on March 26.

Mr. Adams was asked by a reporter whether the prepaid cards provide potential migrants an appealing reason to come to the United States and whether the program therefore sends a mixed message, given the mayor’s stated attempts to dissuade illegal immigrants from coming to New York City.

“No, it sends a mixed message when it’s distorted,” the mayor replied. He said he gave his team a clear directive to bring down costs related to the provision of services to illegal immigrants in the Big Apple by 30 percent—and that the cards are part of that initiative.

Mr. Adams called the cards a “cost-effective” win-win that saves taxpayers more than $600,000 per month, or $7.2 million per year.

“We’re going to do away with food waste and we’re going to put money back into the local economy,” he said.

Mr. Adams argued that criticism isn’t a good enough reason not to press ahead with the program.

“If we didn’t do things because people are going to critique us, we wouldn’t have gotten thousands of people off our streets that are homeless, we would not have removed our encampments, we would not have taken thousands of guns off the street,” he said. “We’ve got to do it right.”

Regarding the question of whether the prepaid cards will incentivize more illegal immigration, Mr. Adams said it’s unavoidable that information will get back to friends and family in South American countries that even rudimentary conditions in New York shelters are better than the dire conditions some people are fleeing.

“That’s going to go back,” he said. “We have to find the right combination—delivery of services, with the same level of dignity, and do it in a way that’s cost-effective.

“And I’m not hearing from my colleagues down in Ecuador or Columbia or Mexico that everybody is running to New York because they’re going to get a food card. I’m not hearing that.”

Fabien Levy, the deputy mayor for communications at Mr. Adams’s office, said that there’s an effort underway to inform people at the border by handing out flyers stating that there are no unlimited free services for people once they cross into the United States.

“There’s no free money. These are not ATM cards; you can’t take cash out. If anyone has that idea, they’re wrong,” Mr. Levy said. “This is for food and baby supplies only.”

A U.S. Border Patrol agent speaks with illegal immigrants at a transit center near the U.S.–Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 19, 2023. John Moore/Getty Images

The prepaid card program comes as taxpayers in New York City face sharp cuts to services such as policing and education because the city has had to divert money to cover expenses associated with the influx of illegal immigrants.

New York City Councilman Joe Borelli criticized the program, telling Fox 5 NY when the program was first announced that providing illegal immigrants with services on taxpayers’ dime sends the wrong message.

“We’re just giving this migrant population more free stuff at the expense of New York City taxpayers,” he told the outlet.

Mr. Adams has pushed back on this message, arguing that the program would save New York about $7 million per year compared with physically handing out food to illegal immigrants, which would cost more because of logistics and waste.

New York Mayor Eric Adams speaks during his weekly press conference at New York City Hall on Nov. 14, 2023. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The mayor insisted at the briefing that the assistance is justified to alleviate a “humanitarian crisis” that has gripped the city as about 180,000 illegal immigrants have come since last spring.

Amid the influx, Mr. Adams has walked a fine line between empathy and criticism. For instance, he warned in September 2023 that the unending influx of illegal immigrants would “destroy New York City.”

He has also pleaded for federal help, lamenting that the Biden administration’s lack of action was leaving cities to fend for themselves.