Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not mince words as he slammed Mayor Adams’ plan to provide migrants with credit cards, calling the Big Apple proposal “insanity,” “reprehensible” and even “offensive.”
“It sounds like insanity is behind it because it really is offensive, it may be the most reprehensible thing that I’ve seen take place over the past 48 hours,” the Texas Republican told Fox Business on Sunday.
He pointed out that news of the program, first revealed by The Post, comes just days after migrants were caught on video beating a police officer near Times Square — and were released back on the streets without bail.
“What’s going on in New York is outrageous and Americans across the country are angry, not just about what’s going on in New York, but the underlying cause for it, which is Joe Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott told Maria Bartiromo.
The Texas governor has sent busloads of migrants who crossed over the southern border into his state into New York City dozens of times over the past year.
Migrants who arrive to the Big Apple are then sent to shelters in the Roosevelt Hotel, Floyd Bennett Field, and a sprawling tent city on Randall’s Island.
Those at the Roosevelt Hotel will now start to receive pre-paid credit cards from the city to help them buy food, under a program run by the New Jersey company Mobility Capital Finance.
It will start with a group of 500 migrant families in short-term hotel stays and will replace the current food service offered there, according to City Hall.
The cards can only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores — and migrants must sign an affidavit swearing they will only spend the funds on food and baby supplies or they will be kicked out of the program.
The amount on each card will vary depending on the size of the family and whether they have any income coming in, according to the details of the contract obtained by The Post.
A family of four, for instance, could be provided nearly $1,000 each month, which comes out to $35 per day for food.
Cards will get refilled every 28 days.
If the program is a success, the city will expand it to all migrant families staying in hotels, which now stands at about 15,000, officials said Friday.
