NYC moving ahead with plan to give prepaid debit cards to migrant families

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- New York City will move forward with a plan to give migrant families debit cards loaded with cash to buy food and baby supplies.

The pilot program, which drew criticism before even being rolled out, will put cards in the hands of migrant families beginning Monday, PIX11 News has learned.

Using a company called MoCaFi, the city will initially hand out cards to 115 families staying in hotels by next week. Approximately 460 migrants, including many children, will be fed by the city in this manner.

City Hall said a family of four with two children under the age of 5 years old will get $350 loaded onto their card weekly. The pilot program is expected to last six weeks -- and the plan is to expand the program after working out any issues flagged by data from the pilot.

Since the more than $53 million "emergency purchase" contract with New Jersey-based MoCaFi was announced, conservative commentators and people concerned about the potential for waste and fraud have criticized the plan.

PIX11's Henry Rosoff was the only TV news reporter to sit down with Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom, who has led New York City's migrant response, to press her about what was being done to prevent waste in the program.

Williams-Isom insisted the cards will only be available for use at bodegas and grocery stores.

"We are making sure we are putting in guardrails so people can only buy food and baby supplies," Williams-Isom said. "So if you try to go to Bloomingdale's and use it for shoes, it will be rejected. If there are things where we see people abuse it, we can take the card back."

Williams-Isom said the city will be able to review purchase data and identify abuse quickly. She also said keeping the pilot small and limited to families with children was another guardrail.

Finally, Williams-Isom said that once fully implemented, the program has the potential to save $600,000 per month -- and she rebuffed critics who say the city should just not feed newly arrived migrants at all.

"We are required to make sure that people have shelter, and people have food, and that people are staying safe," Williams-Isom said. "This is not something extra that we are doing. This is us trying to think of an innovative way to make sure that we are giving people what we are required to give them, but that we are being efficient and not wasteful."

For a full report, watch the PIX11 News at 5 p.m.