New York City The shelter is ending a program that provided prepaid debit cards to immigrant families living in the city.

In a statement obtained FOX 5 New YorkAdams announced the end of the emergency response card pilot program.

“Through the emergency response cards pilot program, we were able to reduce food waste, direct millions of dollars into our local economy, and provide more culturally relevant food to the more than 2,600 immigrant families in our care,” Adams said. “As we move towards more competitive contracts for refugee programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year period expires.”

New York City officials begin distributing prepaid debit cards immigrant families He was residing in the Big Apple earlier this year. Prepaid cards – the first of these distributed in March The cards, which are part of the city’s Emergency Response Cards (IRC) program, are intended to be used only to purchase essential items such as food.

The mayor has previously said access to the program is limited to families with children and those in a separate program that provides four weeks of hotel accommodation to expecting families.

NYC BRAWS TAXPAYER-SUPPORTED CARD PROGRAM FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HELPS LEADING COUNTRY THROUGH ‘CRISIS’

Immigrants reach for food distributed outside the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on August 2, 2023. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Allowances for illegal immigrants residing in the city are distributed weekly until the end of their four-week hotel stay, and families of four with two children under the age of five receive up to approximately $350 each week.

The program will save the city about $600,000 a month and $7.2 million a year, officials said.

New York City, which has experienced an influx of more than 200,000 immigrants since 2022, has been offering settlement options to immigrants since then. It opened once again last year re-ticketing center Offering one-way plane tickets to immigrants.

IMMIGRANT WAS ARRESTED FOR RAPING A 13-YEAR-OLD CHILD IN DAYLIGHT IN NEW YORK PARK

Migrants stand in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, which has been converted into a city-run shelter in 2023. (Selçuk Acar/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images)

Late last month, Fox News confirmed that 4,500 immigrants had been sent back to Texas using bus or plane tickets purchased by the city, as first reported by Bloomberg News.

Top five destinations for immigrants leaving the Big Apple, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ office Texas?Illinois, Florida, New York State and Colorado.

In total, more than 47,000 tickets were issued, with approximately 4,500 of them going to Texas. It was unclear how many of these immigrants came from buses sent from Texas to NYC.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York City and other sanctuary cities in 2022, saying it was an effort to ease pressure on hard-pressed border communities.

Abbott said he chose sanctuary cities — cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement — because they encourage crisis.

Fox News Digital’s Kyle Morris, Adam Shaw and Brooke Taylor contributed to this report.