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.

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.

A state program to resettle immigrant families outside of New York City enrolled its last participants this summer. The Migrant Relocation Assistance Program, or MRAP, helped thousands escape crowded shelters and establish livelihoods in communities across the state. But its rollout was slow, it faced backlash from county governments, and it ended up helping around half the families it hoped to. Tens of thousands left city shelters with no relocation support.

Now, some members of families who found stability through the program are being arrested and deported — swept up in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, as New York Focus reported this week.

What was the embattled program?