By Melissa Goldin—
The Associated Press
A series of publications on social networks claim that New York City is providing credit cards to immigrants who arrive irregularly in the United States.
The statement is false.
The municipal government led by Democrat Eric Adams launched a pilot program for asylum seekers who are legally in the United States and have been sent from the border to that city, collapsing its social services: they are given prepaid debit cards to buy certain items, but
not credit cards.
A spokeswoman for the mayor explained that they are only used to buy food and baby items.
Beneficiaries can make purchases with the cards at warehouses, supermarkets and convenience stores.
They take the aid program out of context
Amid a massive influx of immigrants into the city, there are users on social media who are misrepresenting this program with false claims about the type of help offered.
[There are not thousands of truckers heading to defend the southern border: publications that claim this use a video from 2022]
“Lunatic Democrats handing out credit cards to foreigners while Americans struggle,” reads a post on the
social
network
Another post on the social network Facebook reads: “Want to bet that New York City's illegal crisis is going to get worse?
$53,000,000.00 in free credit cards ensures that it will be so.
New York will fall very soon.”
Despite these claims, migrants will receive prepaid debit cards as part of the pilot program, not credit cards, with which they will only be able to purchase food and baby items.
A stimulus to the local economy
The cards are a possible replacement for the non-perishable food boxes the city currently provides to immigrants.
They will be charged an average of $12.52 per person, per day for 28 days, according to Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for the mayor.
The federally funded health and nutrition programs, SNAP and WIC, already use similar prepaid cards for their aid.
The city has allocated $53 million to the pilot program, which officials say will save $600,000 a month and $7.2 million a year to city coffers.
Adams indicated at a news conference Monday that, in addition to those savings, he hopes the use of the cards at city businesses will help stimulate the local economy.
Officials deny online claims
Adams addressed the veracity of the claims spreading online: “We need to dispel the rumor that we gave American Express cards to everyone,” he said, “this is simply not true.”
Credit cards and debit cards are two very different types of payment methods.
By using a credit card, a consumer borrows money that must be repaid by a specified due date.
Debit cards are linked to a bank or credit union account, which means you generally can't spend more money than you have in the account.
Prepaid debit cards must be loaded with money before they can be used, as they are not linked to a bank account.
[Greg Abbott announces more barbed wire will be installed]
The mayor's spokeswoman told The Associated Press news agency that about 500 immigrant families with children will be provided with prepaid debit cards that they can use exclusively at grocery stores, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores "to ensure that the money is spend on food and baby items,” he wrote in an email.
Participants “will be required to sign an affidavit saying they will use these cards for their intended purposes” and otherwise risk being removed from the program.
Mobility Capital Finance, or MoCaFi, the company New York City is partnering with to launch the program, confirmed to the news agency that the cards “
are not credit cards
.”
MoCaFi said the program is expected to begin later this month.
If the program is successful, the city will expand it, Adams said.