In one of his first acts as an officially lame duck mayor, Eric Adams announced on Monday that he’s extending a controversial tech program well into his successor’s tenure — just a day before four City Council committees are set to hold a joint oversight hearing on it.

Adams issued a press release Monday morning announcing the three-year renewal of Big Apple Connect, which currently provides free internet to 330,000 public housing residents. New York Focus reported last month that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) is using the program as a backdoor for undisclosed live video surveillance at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments, and city legislators are set to grill the administration on the covert surveillance expansion tomorrow.

“The Mayor’s decision to expand this program just one day before a scheduled Council oversight hearing is not just disrespectful, it’s a deliberate effort to undermine the communities we represent,” Councilmember Chris Banks, who chairs the body’s public housing committee, said in a statement.

Over the weekend, asylum seekers in New York were flooded with messages — some from their lawyers — telling them to pay a $100 fee to the Trump administration by Tuesday or risk deportation.

Moussa, an asylum seeker from Mali who lives in Manhattan, received a WhatsApp message from his lawyer’s office on Saturday instructing him to pay the fee by Tuesday. “Failure to pay and meet this deadline can and will result in Dismissal of your claim of relief and possible order of removal,” the message said.

Moussa didn’t have $100 on hand — “I just paid my rent, so I don’t have any money right now,” he said — so he found work on Sunday at a small demolition site to try to collect it. Still, he wasn’t sure whether he would be able to pull the funds together in time. (New York Focus has changed some names in this article to protect people with active court proceedings.)

K and her husband were eager to settle down after a harrowing migration. They left Colombia for the United States last year with their infant son, reaching the southern border in May 2024. From Texas, they traveled to New York City by bus, ending up in a hotel shelter for newly arrived immigrant families.

That’s when New York state stepped in. The Migrant Relocation Assistance Program, a $32 million initiative launched in 2023, helped the family relocate to Rochester in May. Program funds paid for their move and first year of rent. K was relieved to escape the hotel, where she wasn’t allowed to cook, and the family settled into a routine: Her husband delivered food for DoorDash and Uber Eats, while she took care of their son at home.

Then, one morning in July, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested her husband outside their apartment. The couple, who met as children, were separated for the first time in 14 years.