New York City will be increasing the number of prepaid debit cards it distributes to migrant families to purchase baby supplies and food.
A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams’ office said in early July that the controversial debit card program, which was launched in February, would be expanded over the next six months to include 7,300 more migrant families.
Since it first began the program, the city distributed the debit cards to roughly 900 migrant families.
Additionally, the mayor’s office said it planned to convert 14 additional hotels throughout the city to house migrant families.
The city said the debit cards would replace the city-funded food boxes that are handed out at the hotels being used as make-shift migrant shelters.
Under the program, instead of taxpayer-funded food boxes, the migrant families would receive debit cards that contain a 28-day allowance to be distributed in four weekly increments.
A family of four that includes two children under the age of five would receive a distribution of $350 a week on a pre-paid debit card.
Anne Williams-Isom, the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, said the program would enable “newly-arriving families” to make purchases themselves at local shops. She said that, unlike the food boxes, the pre-paid cards would “support small businesses.”
City officials argue that providing the debit cards would save the city as much as $4 million by the end of 2024.
Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom explained that the debit cards are not “extra” but an “innovative” and “efficient” alternative that would eliminate waste.
The city is paying the New Jersey company MoCaFi $53 million to administer the debit card program, $2 million of which will go to the company.
Williams-Isom insisted that the program had “guardrails” in place to prevent fraud and abuse. She said if a migrant tried to use a debit card to purchase shoes at Bloomingdale’s, the card would be rejected. She said that any migrant who attempts to misuse the card would have the debit card revoked.