NYC Mayor Eric Adams to stop giving migrants FREE pre-paid cards worth $18,500 a year to migrants over backlash to multi-million scheme

New York City is ending its controversial strategy that gave migrant families prepaid debit cards worthy a full of $18,500 each.

City Hall made the announcement Thursday, arsenic Mayor Eric Adams has yet listened to critics of the Big Apple's migrant policies and Adams himself has go friendlier with Donald Trump, who plans massive reforms to the migration system.

William Fowler, a spokesperson for City Hall, says the programme volition expire astatine the extremity of the twelvemonth aft handing retired a full of $3.2 cardinal successful currency worth for 2,600 families to bargain necessities. 

The debit cards could lone beryllium utilized astatine supermarkets and bodegas, Adams said erstwhile it began. A household of 4 with 2 children could person up to $350 per week, depending connected the children's ages.

The programme became much inconvenient aft Brad Lander, the city's comptroller, stripped Adams of his powerfulness to marque 'emergency deals' with companies similar MoCaFi, who were fixed $400,000 successful a no-bid declaration to tally the program. 

'We volition proceed to instrumentality and larn from innovative aviator programs similar the contiguous effect cards programme arsenic we attraction for hundreds of caller arrivals each week,' Fowler said successful a statement. 

However, Fowler did archer Gothamist the programme could perchance beryllium restarted but would person to spell done an unfastened bidding process for who would tally it.

Critics including Adams' rival connected the migrant crisis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Queens calved rapper 50 Cent, person questioned wherefore migrants are receiving the cards up of struggling New Yorkers.

Abbott blasted the 'offensive' scheme arsenic 'insanity,' but supporters accidental it volition assistance the metropolis woody with the strain connected its services caused by a surge successful migrants successful caller months.

Adams insisted the debit cards will save the metropolis $600,000 a month, oregon $7.2 cardinal annually, by allowing migrants to walk wealth that volition spell backmost into the section system alternatively of the metropolis spending funds connected boxes of food. 

Meanwhile, 50 Cent shared a station connected Instagram astir the program to manus retired pre-paid cards for migrants to bargain nutrient and babe supplies.

'WTF Mayor Adams telephone my phone,' helium wrote. 'I don't recognize however this works, idiosyncratic explicate this. I'm stuck, possibly TRUMP is the answer.'

It comes aft the artist, who was calved successful New York City, questioned wherefore migrants were being handed escaped healthcare successful California.

Joseph Borelli, the City Council's Republican number leader, acknowledged determination would beryllium a saving, but questioned the magnitude being spent connected migrants.

'A batch of New Yorkers are going to instrumentality this arsenic thing that's fundamentally unfair,' helium told the New York Times. 'There are plentifulness of New Yorkers struggling to wage their bills.' 

Trump is expected to crack down connected amerciable migration and effort to restrict ineligible immigration erstwhile helium returns to the White House connected Jan. 20, pursuing up connected run promises and unfinished efforts from his 2017-2021 presidency. 

He has pledged to motorboat the largest deportation effort successful U.S. history, focusing connected criminals but aiming to nonstop millions backmost to their location countries, an effort that is expected to pat resources crossed the U.S. authorities but besides look obstacles. 

Trump has said helium would reconstruct his 2019 'remain successful Mexico' program, which forced asylum-seekers of definite nationalities attempting to participate the U.S. astatine the confederate borderline to hold successful Mexico for the solution of their cases. 

The programme was terminated by Democratic President Joe Biden, who ended his faltering reelection run successful July, making Vice President Kamala Harris the candidate.

Trump besides would reinstate the COVID-19-era Title 42 policy, which allowed U.S. borderline authorities to rapidly expel migrants backmost to Mexico without the accidental to assertion asylum, helium told Time mag successful an interview.

He would usage grounds borderline crossings and trafficking of fentanyl and children arsenic reasons for the exigency moves, Time reported, citing comments from advisers.

Trump has said helium volition question to detain each migrants caught crossing the borderline illegally oregon violating different migration laws, ending what helium calls 'catch and release.' 

At a run lawsuit earlier this month, Trump said helium would call connected Congress to money an further 10,000 Border Patrol agents, a important summation implicit the existing force. 

Harris criticized Trump for helping termination a bipartisan borderline information measure earlier this twelvemonth that could person added 1,300 much agents.

Trump focused connected gathering a partition connected the U.S.-Mexico borderline during his archetypal word and has pledged to adjacent gaps successful the borderline wall if elected. 

He criticized a Biden asylum prohibition rolled retired past June and pledged to reverse it during a run lawsuit successful Arizona. 

Trump said the measurement would not adequately unafraid the border, adjacent though it mirrored Trump-era policies to deter would-be migrants and has contributed to a steep driblet successful migrants caught crossing illegally. 

He besides said astatine the run lawsuit that helium would see utilizing tariffs to unit China and different nations to halt migrants from their countries from coming to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Trump's moving mate JD Vance said successful a New York Times interrogation published successful October that deporting 1 cardinal immigrants per twelvemonth would beryllium 'reasonable.' 

He has said helium would instrumentality question bans connected radical from definite countries oregon with definite ideologies, expanding connected a argumentation upheld by the Supreme Court successful 2018. 

Trump previewed immoderate parts of the satellite that could beryllium subjected to a renewed question prohibition successful an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict radical from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and 'anywhere other that threatens our security.' 

The president-elect said past twelvemonth that helium would question to extremity automatic citizenship for children calved successful the U.S. to immigrants surviving successful the state illegally, an thought helium flirted with arsenic president. 

Trump said past June helium would question to artifact communists, Marxists and socialists from entering the U.S.

Adams, who has become the much-maligned look of New York City's migrant disaster, has precocious go much affable to Trump, adjacent earlier his triumph connected Tuesday. 

The Democrat politician of New York City has slammed the party's harsh rhetoric against Trump.

The politician congratulated Trump connected his triumph and said helium spoke to the president-elect connected the telephone privately Wednesday.

'I communicated with the president yesterday to authorities that determination are galore issues present successful the metropolis that we privation to enactment unneurotic with the medication to address. The metropolis indispensable determination guardant and that is what our telephone is to do.' 

Both Adams and Trump have sympathized with each other's ineligible plights successful the past. 

Trump defended Adams astatine the Al Smith Charity Dinner - which Harris skipped - erstwhile mentioning the mayor's national indictment connected bribery, fraud, and soliciting overseas run donations.