New York City Set to End Contentious Program That Provides Debit Cards To Migrant Families

New York City will soon end a contentious plan aimed at helping migrant families purchase food and other goods, the Adams administration announced.

The program, which started in late March, provided debit cards to some 2,600 migrant families living in hotels so that they can buy food and baby supplies for a combined amount of about $3.2 million. When announced, the participants made up just a fraction of the tens of thousands of migrants residing in city-run shelters.

The pilot program, now set to conclude at the end of this year, has come into heavy scrutiny from the moment it was announced, with critics concerned that the cards could be misused and questioning whether it was fair to give preferential treatment to migrants over others in need.

The amounts loaded on the debit cards varied depending on family size. A family of four with two children under age 5 receives about $350 a week while staying in a city shelter, administration officials have said.

The debit cards could only be used at groceries, convenience stores and bodegas, and do not work at other businesses. The program has cost half as much as the boxed-meal delivery service it replaced, Gothamist reports.

Mayor Eric Adams has defended the program, arguing it would bring down the costs of feeding migrants and give them a wider array of healthier options at supermarkets and bodegas. Nevertheless, the administration, which is under legal woes for corruption allegations, has decided not to renew the one-year contract, which had been given to Mobility Capital Finance, known as MoCaFi, on a no-bid emergency basis.

The city's Department of Investigation is investigating the contract with MoCaFi, The New York Times reported. However, in explaining the city's decision to end the program, Adams made no mention of the investigation. Instead, he credited the decision to the city's "constant decrease in our population" of migrants. There was no need to renew an emergency contract, he siad.

"It was an emergency, and we're moving in another direction," he said on WABC-TV, adding that the program was successful.

As the program comes to an end, the city will go back to delivering meals to families staying at hotels under an existing contract with a company called Garner Environmental Services.

"For over two years, we have provided care to more than 222,000 migrants while saving $2 billion in asylum seeker-related costs," a City Hall spokesperson said. "Thanks to our resettlement efforts, intensive case management, and national-leading Asylum Application Help Center, more than 160,000 migrants have left our shelter system and taken their next steps towards self-sufficiency."