New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that the city would end the immediate response cards pilot program which gave prepaid debit cards to illegal immigrants.

New York City is ending a pilot program that provided migrant families with up to $350 a week on prepaid debit cards. Critics had argued that the program was vulnerable to misuse and prioritized migrants over New Yorkers in need.

The Adams administration has touted the pilot program as a cost-saving measure and a way to limit food waste, while conservatives have criticized it as vulnerable to misuse.

New York City will end a pilot program that gave prepaid debit cards to migrant families to help them buy food. New York City launched the pilot program earlier this year. It

Mayor Eric Adams is ending his administration’s controversial program supplying migrants in city shelters with prepaid debit cards to pay for groceries. The pilot program distributed the preloaded Mastercards to asylum seekers at hotels-turned-shelters with a family of four receiving about $350 a week to cover the cost of groceries and baby supplies.