(Headline USA) New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the city’s new policy of giving pre-paid credit cards to illegal immigrants, claiming it would be fraud resistant.
The pilot program, which started this week, will provide 10 families with debit cards that they can use for food, groceries and baby supplies. Officials then plan to scale it up to 115 families, or about 450 individuals. The families will be able to use $350 a week from the cards.
Asked whether the program sends a “mixed message” to illegals since New York has also tried to stop more immigrants from traveling to the city, Adams claimed, “It sends a mixed message when it’s distorted.”
Deputy Mayor Fabien Levy also pushed back on concerns that the program would be abused, according to Politico.
“There is no free money,” he claimed. “These are not ATM cards. You can’t take cash out.”
Deputy Mayor Anne Williams–Isom, however, sounded more skeptical. “We can take a look at it after six weeks and see what’s working and what’s not,” she said.
New York officials argued that the rules within the pilot program placed strict expectations on the recipients and their behavior. The prepaid cards may only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores, they said.
Those eligible for the program must sign an affidavit stating they will only spend the funds on food and baby supplies, or else they could lose access to the funds.
A city hall spokesperson claimed in a statement that the program had already been a success.
“A large part of our success is due to our constant work to find new ways to better serve the hundreds of individuals and families arriving every single day, as well as the longtime New Yorkers experiencing homelessness who are already in our care,” the spokesperson claimed. “That is why we are excited to launch an innovative, cost-saving pilot program with Mobility Capital Finance to distribute pre-paid cards to migrant families to purchase only food and baby supplies.”
Some—including former President Donald Trump—have speculated that Adams’s sudden pivot from opposing the Biden administration’s open-border policies to being fully on board with them might have something to do with the federal investigation that was launched into allegations of illicit campaign finance involving foreign entities.
Promptly following some of Adams’s most searing criticism of the Democrat president last November, the FBI seized several of Adams’s personal electronic devices for forensic investigation.
It subsequently raided the home of one of his top aides, Winnie Greco, who was subsequently rushed to the hospital under mysterious circumstances.
