New York City ends a program that provided prepaid debit cards to migrant families living in the sanctuary city.

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

“Through the Immediate Response Card pilot program, we were able to reduce food waste, redirect millions of dollars into our local economy, and provide more culturally appropriate food for the more than 2,600 migrant families in our care ” Adams said. “As we move toward more competitive contracts for asylum seeker programs, we have chosen not to renew the emergency contract for this pilot program once the one-year term ends.”

New York City authorities have begun distributing prepaid debit cards to migrant families residing in the Big Apple earlier this year. Prepaid cards – the first of which were distributed in March under the city’s Immediate Response Card (IRC) program, they are intended to be used only to purchase essential items like food.

The mayor’s office previously said access to the program was limited to people participating in a separate program that offers four-week hotel stays to families with children and families expecting children.

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Migrants search for food distributed in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, August 2, 2023. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Stipends for illegal immigrants residing in the city are distributed on a weekly basis until the end of their four-week hotel stay, with families of four with two children under the age of five receiving up to nearly $350 per week.

Officials said the program would save the city about $600,000 per month and $7.2 million per year.

New York City, which has been overwhelmed by more than 200,000 migrant arrivals since 2022, has been offering settlement options to migrants ever since. Last year he opened a ticket center offer one-way plane tickets to migrants.

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Migrants stand in front of the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, which will be transformed into a city-run shelter in 2023. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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

Top five destinations for migrants leaving the Big Apple, according to Mayor Eric Adams’ office are TexasIllinois, Florida, New York and Colorado.

In total, they issued more than 47,000 tickets, of which about 4,500 went to Texas. It’s unclear how many of those migrants came from buses sent to New York from Texas.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to New York and other sanctuary cities in 2022, in what he described as an effort to relieve pressure on overwhelmed border communities.

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

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