New York Starts Handing Out Prepaid Debit Cards to Illegal Immigrants

New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the use of the prepaid cards during an in-person media appearance in Albany on March 26.

Dozens of recently arrived illegal immigrants camp outside of New York's Roosevelt Hotel, which has been made into a reception center, as they try to secure temporary housing in New York City on Aug. 1, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New York City officials on March 25 started handing out prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants as part of a $53 million pilot program that has drawn criticism over whether the prospect of “free money” is incentivizing more unlawful border crossings.

The first batch of the cards was given out on March 25 to a handful of families, and that will expand to roughly 460 people by next week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s office confirmed to Fox News.