INSIDE NYC'S $10,000 PREPAID CARD PROGRAM FOR MIGRANTS, CHAOS ERUPTS AT A SHELTER:
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The $53 million pilot program, run by Mobility Capital Finance provides asylum seekers arriving at the Roosevelt Hotel with cash to help them buy food.
The contract allows up to $10,000 per migrant, with no ID check or fraud control - although City Hall has said they will make the migrants sign an affidavit promising only to use card for food and baby supplies.
A misconception is that $53 million is the cost of the program however, this is only the fee that Mobility Capital Finance will receive for its services, as stated in the contract. City Hall has given itself the flexibility to disburse at least $2.5 billion in an open-ended, multibillion-dollar amount of cash, used for any purpose.
It will give migrants up to $10,000 each in taxpayer money with no ID check, no restrictions, and no fraud control.
The cards can only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores — and migrants must sign an affidavit swearing they will only spend the funds on food and baby supplies or they will be kicked out of the program.
The Immediate Response Card is similar to the state’s food stamp program, dubbed SNAP, which provides lower-income New Yorkers with a credit card to cover the cost of meals, and will provide funds based on the same scale.
The amount on each card will vary depending on the size of the family and whether any income is coming in, according to the details of the contract. A family of four, for instance, could be provided nearly $1,000 each month, which comes out to $35 per day for food. Cards will get refilled every 28 days.
The city's Housing Preservation & Development also reportedly did not go through the usual competitive bidding process before awarding the job to Mobility Capital Finance. (MoCaFi) was referred by City Hall.
More than 170,000 migrants have arrived in the city since the spring of 2022 and the crisis is only deepening as they continue to be bussed from Texas where record numbers are pouring over the border.
Adams confessed to Fox 5's Rosanna Scotto earlier this week that, 'We're getting close to anywhere from 2,500 to peaking at 4,000 a week.'
Daily Mail, New York Post, Fox 5