New York City is giving prepaid debit cards to undocumented immigrants instead of food after thousands of meals went uneaten or were thrown away.
The city signed a $53 million no-bid contract to provide the cards to around 460 families, as part of $1.8 billion in spending on the nearly 65,000 undocumented immigrants in NYC.
Immigrants had complained the free food provided was cold, unhealthy like donuts for breakfast, and too sweet.
“The food is bad. I don’t like it. How they prepare it, I don’t like it. When they bring it to you, it’s cold,” one Venezuelan woman said.
A city councilwoman expressed outrage over the $463 million food contract during the city’s fiscal crisis, questioning how much food was actually consumed or rotten.
“They’re spending $463 million on food during a fiscal crisis, and they can’t account for how much of that is actually being consumed or how much of that food is rotten,” City Councilwoman Julie Won said.
“The breakfast they give us is very sweet. They give us pancakes, donuts and cookies for breakfast at 6 a.m. It is too sweet to give to my daughter, so I just take a few things,” said mother Johana Roa.
Critics argue the debit card scheme further exploits taxpayer money and enables fraud, rather than truly helping needy asylum seekers who should feel grateful for any assistance.
