NEW YORK – New York City will put an end to it controversial debit card program for migrants.
Below the pilot programmigrants staying in city-funded hotels received prepaid cards to purchase their own food and other necessities.
A spokesperson for the town hall said this in a statement on Thursday:
“Thanks to the Immediate Response Card pilot program, we have been able to reduce food waste, return millions of dollars to our local economy, and provide more culturally relevant food to the more than 2,600 immigrant families in our care. As we move toward more competitive contracts for asylum seeker programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year term expires. For more than two years, we have provided care to more than 222,000 migrants while saving $2 billion in asylum-seeker-related costs. Thanks to our resettlement efforts, intensive case management, and the leading National Asylum Assistance Center, more than 160,000 migrants have left our reception system and taken their next steps toward self-sufficiency. We will continue to implement and learn from innovative pilot programs such as the immediate response card program as we welcome hundreds of newcomers each week.”
Immigrant families participating in the program will continue to receive debit cards through the end of the year. After that, the city will transition back to food delivery services for migrants.
Ali Bauman
