NYC begins handing out migrants taxpayer-funded, pre-paid debit cards at Roosevelt Hotel shelter, with 450 people set to begin receiving up to '$18,200-a-year' payout by the end of this week

Migrant families in New York city have begun receiving prepaid debit cards as part of a controversial scheme that could see them receive up to $18,200 a year.

Officials began distributing the cards to the first ten new arrivals at the city's Roosevelt Hotel shelter on Monday. 

The cards are preloaded with a week's worth of funds and will be rolled out to 115 families, equivalent to 450 people by the end of the week.

Mayor Eric Adams is pressing ahead with the $53 million scheme, despite a furious backlash amid fears the cards are open to abuse.

The debit cards can only be used at supermarkets and bodegas, the city leader said. A family of four with two children could receive up to $350 per week, depending on the children’s ages.

Participants will also have to sign an affidavit swearing they will only use the cards for food or baby supplies at the risk of being removed from the program. 

But critics including Adams' rival on the migrant crisis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Queens born rapper, 50 Cent have questioned why migrants are receiving the cards ahead of struggling New Yorkers.

Abbott blasted the 'offensive' scheme as 'insanity,' but supporters say it will help the city deal with the strain on its services caused by a surge in migrants in recent months.

In the last two years 180,000 asylum seekers entered New York, with 65,000 still in shelters.

Adams insists the debit cards will save the city $600,000 a month, or $7.2 million annually, by allowing migrants to spend money that will go back into the local economy instead of the city spending funds on boxes of food.

Joseph Borelli, the City Council's Republican minority leader, acknowledged there would be a saving, but questioned the amount being spent on migrants.

'A lot of New Yorkers are going to take this as something that's fundamentally unfair,' he told the New York Times. 'There are plenty of New Yorkers struggling to pay their bills.'

Adams' decision to award the contract for the debit cards to Mobility Capital Finance on an emergency basis without competitive bids from other companies has also raised eyebrows.

 His administration was criticized for entering into the $434 million contract with DocGo, a medical services company whose work on the migrant crisis has been mired in controversy. 

Adams has spent $570,000 on the contract so far, including a $125,000 starting fee for the company, advance funds for the cards and $3 per card to create them.

CEO Wole Coaxum insisted the digital coding on the cards ensures they will only work in preapproved stores, with families also being asked to save receipts.

His said company has worked on  universal basic income cards in other cities, including Los Angeles and Newark, N.J. where they were not abused.

'What we've found in each of these instances is that people spend the money on the intended purpose,' he said in an interview.

The city can remove people from the program if they are found to be committing fraud. Officials intend to gather data on the first families to receive the cards before rolling it out further.

New York's deputy mayor for health and human services, Anne Williams-Isom defended the scheme, saying 'it's not putting groups against each other' as there are other programs such as food stamps and cash assistance for native New Yorkers.

'I do struggle with why people are being so negative when it comes to providing something so basic for families with children,' she said.

Around 70,000 migrants were bused or flown to New York City in 2023, putting extreme pressure on the Big Apple's resources.

Governor Abbott began sending migrants to NYC and other Democrat-run cities that bill themselves as 'sanctuaries' for border crossers to show them just how much pressure the crisis has piled on border states.

His plan appears to have worked - with Democrat lawmakers now taking a far tougher stance on the crisis and President Biden himself vowing to take stronger steps to tackle it.