New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) has come under scrutiny for his pilot program to give pre-paid debit cards to illegal immigrants currently being housed in the city’s hotels.
Mayor Adams awarded a $53 million contract to Mobility Capital Finance, to undertake the program to issue debit cards to illegal aliens.
Adams awarded the contract without examining other possible contractors because Mobility Capital Finance is minority owned, a decision that drew criticism from some city officials.
“I think you should bid it out to see who would do the best job at the best cost for taxpayers,” said Democrat City Councillor Gale Brewer, in an interview with CBS.
According to CBS, Councillor Brewer and others have pushed for an investigation of Adams’ program for his failure to allow companies to bid on the contract.
The contract has millions of dollars worth of fees built into it, charging the city a $125,000 set-up fee, a $1.5 million fee for the first $50 million handed out, a $2.5 million fee for the first $100 million, and $250,000 in annual fees.
Despite the millions in fees, Adams failed to consider other possible contractors, and defended his choice.
“WMBs — you know, women- and minority-owned businesses — have historically been locked out,” said Adams.
Adams denied suggestions that he had a personal friendship with Mobility Capital Finance founder Wole Coaxum.
Adams defended the program, saying that, if successful, it could save the city $7.2 million per year.
The debit cards will be able to hold a maximum of $10,000 at any given time, but, currently, a family of four will receive roughly $1,000 per month, meant to be spent on food and other necessities. It is unclear how this will be verified.
“I don’t know exactly how it’s going to work. I do see from the release it will be for diapers and baby products and food, but you have to be careful that that’s what it’s actually going to be for,” said Brewer.
The mayor suggested that some of the city’s savings would come by allowing them to avoid food waste.
According to CBS, many of the illegal immigrants are refusing to eat the free food being given to them by the city with taxpayer money, allowing it to go to waste because it is not what they would prefer to eat.
Adams’ solution to this problem was to give migrants money directly, so that they could buy the food they liked, rather than declining the food provided for them.
The new system will be tested through a pilot program involving 500 migrant families before it is rolled out on a larger scale.
