http://nypost.com/2024/02/10/metro/thousands-of-migrants-get-cash-aid-through-hochul-policy-change/
By Rich Calder
The New York Post
February 10, 2024
The Hochul administration is quietly using taxpayer dollars to gift cash payments to thousands of migrants who don’t qualify for typical welfare assistance, The Post has learned.
The cash windfall was made possible by the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance modifying its “Safety Net Assistance” program’s eligibility rules in May to include non-citizens with pending applications for legal asylum status.
The announcement was made through an under-the-radar message the agency sent out to social services agencies across the state.
The OTDA declined to reveal how many migrants have received SNA checks, but estimates that 90% of New York’s current migrant population won’t see additional benefits under the rule change.
With more than 173,000 migrants coming to the Big Apple since spring 2022, if only 10% of migrants here are eligible for SNA payments, the number of recipients could exceed 17,000 in NYC alone.
66,000 migrants currently remain in the city’s care.
ODTA spokesman Anthony Farmer insisted SNA payments to migrants are only a “small portion” of the $4.3 billion Hochul has already set aside to handle the migrant crisis “in the absence of new federal aid.”
“At the request of New York City, OTDA made a technical update to allow a small percentage of migrants to receive certain additional support in compliance with state and federal law,” he said.
SNA is a state program similar to welfare, and it has historically provided cash payments to needy New Yorkers who don’t qualify for conventional public assistance, including single adults, childless couples, and families of persons abusing alcohol and drugs.
Recipients typically get monthly checks totaling hundreds of dollars and must only use the money to help pay rent and utility costs or purchase clothing or other necessities.
The rule change is the latest in a long list of moves by the city and state to roll out the welcome mat for migrants – including Mayor Adams’ new $53 million pilot program to supply migrant families with pre-paid credit cards to purchase food and baby supplies, critics said.
It’s “horrible that Gov. Hochul found another way to attract migrants” to the state – while at the same time “putting the squeeze” on longtime lower- and middle-class New Yorkers who can’t afford to have their tax dollars go towards helping non-citizens, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.
“You have people from all over the world coming to New York to take advantage of all these left-wing programs the governor, the mayor are implementing, while at the same time, they’re clobbering taxpayers over the head,” the Staten Island Republican added.
“[Safety Net Assistance] is a program that’s supposed to be for New Yorkers who temporarily need it to get through a difficult time in their lives.”
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) agreed, saying “The endless handouts to the entire world are a slap in the face to every citizen who has contributed to and sacrificed for this country.”
“It’s time to end this madness,” he added.
Critics also warn that as the migrant population continues to soar, so will the costs — including for SNA payments.
Adams has estimated it will cost NYC $10.6 billion to deal with the migrant surge through June 2026, and last week asked Governor Hochul to cough up another $1.6 billion in migrant aid because the Big Apple holds a vast majority of the state’s migrant population.
New York City is already facing a public assistance crisis helping needy United States citizens.
Last year, the city provided 720,765 residents cash assistance — as welfare rolls reached highs not seen since 2000, The Post reported last week.
To handle that surge, Adams budgeted a staggering $2.46 billion in federal, state, and city funds this year to provide cash assistance to residents unable to work or pay their bills and for their children.
The city’s Department of Social Services and Hochul’s office did not return messages.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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