NYC taxpayer-funded card program helps illegal immigrants during crisis
New York City officials are touting a taxpayer-funded program that provides $350 per week to migrant families as a model for managing the national humanitarian crisis resulting from mass illegal immigration.
Despite facing criticism from skeptics who question giving undocumented immigrants handouts from the city’s limited funds, officials believe the program is a significant success.
The initiative, known as the Immediate Response Cards (IRC) program, began earlier this year, offering prepaid debit cards to migrant families in New York City. These cards are designated solely for purchasing essential items such as food.
According to a city hall spokesperson, the program has assisted 900 migrant families – including over 1,300 children – in buying food and baby supplies at grocery and convenience stores, infusing approximately $600,000 back into the city’s economy.
While the exact amount spent on the program so far remains undisclosed, reports indicate it is part of a $53 million pilot program aimed at distributing prepaid credit cards to migrant families housed in hotels, despite public outcry.
Participation in the program is limited to families in a separate initiative that offers four-week hotel stays to families with children and those expecting children.
Weekly allowances for undocumented immigrants in the city are provided until the end of their four-week hotel stays. Families of four with two children under five years old receive nearly $350 each week.
Officials state that the IRC program is only available to migrants residing in a subset of locations where the city provides shelter and care, accounting for less than one percent of the total migrant population under the city’s supervision.
At the program’s onset, cards were distributed at the arrival center, the Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, to migrant families staying at hotels converted into emergency shelters.
New York City Mayor Adams, a Democrat, strongly defended the program earlier this year amid misinformation surrounding it.
Addressing a state legislative budget hearing in Albany in February, Adams clarified, “We’re not giving people American Express cards.”
He explained, “We found that the food delivery service that we set up during the emergency — we could find a better way to do it in our belief that we want to cut 20% of the migrant costs. So we have a pilot project with 500 people that we are giving them food cards, so instead of a debit card, instead of having to deliver food, and have people eat food — we were seeing wasting food — they’re now able to get their own food, that is going to be spent $12 a day.”
New York City’s government anticipates spending at least $10.6 billion on migrants by the summer of 2025. The state has pledged about $2 billion in the current budget cycle to address the migrant crisis, but Mayor Adams informed lawmakers that this would only cover one-third of the city’s migrant-related expenses.
Since 2022, approximately 180,000 migrants have arrived in New York City, straining city resources as officials work to find suitable housing for them. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has transported asylum-seekers to New York and other cities to assist them in reaching sanctuary jurisdictions and raise awareness about the challenges border communities confront daily.
The economic and humanitarian impact of New York City’s migrant aid program continues to be a topic of debate, with officials defending its merits despite facing opposition from various sectors of society.
