Agitators (@Agitators)

#EricAdams, #Immigration Inside Mayor Adams’ migrant debit card boondoggle — no-bid bank gets $50 million, border crossers up to $10,000 each NY Post ^ https://nypost.com/2024/02/19/opinion/inside-mayor-adams-migrant-debit-card-boondoggle-no-bid-bank-gets-50-million-border-crossers-up-to-10000-each/ It takes money to make money, as the old saying goes, and, apparently, it also takes money — as much as $53 million — to give money away. Earlier this month, The Post broke the story that Mayor Adams is giving out pre-paid cash cards to migrants. Unusually for the mayor, Adams didn’t publicize this story himself, and his administration has for nearly a month failed to correct several public misperceptions about it. One misperception is that the program allows the city to give out just $50 million to migrants. No wonder the mayor has been reticent. This debit-card program — if you read the actual contract — has the potential to become an open-ended, multi-billion-dollar Bermuda Triangle of disappearing, untraceable cash, used for any purpose. It will give migrants up to $10,000 each in taxpayer money with no ID check, no restrictions and no fraud control. The only clue is from a stray off-the-cuff comment Adams made at a reception earlier this month, calling MoCaFi a minority business “that we met on the campaign trail. . . . Little did we know that God is going to say there’s going to be a crisis, you’re going to have to meet them. . . . And it’s going to cost us money” to “put investment . . . in our community.” A year ago, the Adams administration was already eager to find something for MoCaFi to do. ** So, to sum up so far, the Adams administration, with no oversight, no consultation with the city council, and no public discussion, has given itself the flexibility to launch a massive parallel benefits program, alongside — not replacing — traditional welfare cash assistance and (for New Yorkers legally in the country long-term) federal food-stamps benefits.