MOIA unveils 25 "Immigration Legal Support Centers," council questions funding, staffing and capacity

The mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) told the New York City Council Committee on Immigration that it has launched a new network of 25 MOIA Immigration Legal Support Centers intended to replace the Action NYC model and expand access to immigration legal screenings and follow-up services across the five boroughs.

"Since 2022, when I joined as commissioner, our programming and our funding for legal services has nearly doubled," MOIA Commissioner Manuel Castro told the committee. He described a decentralized model of 38 support sites run by 29 unique contractors (plus a broader network of providers) meant to work through hospitals, schools, libraries and community-based organizations.

Key program details MOIA officials provided:

- Contracts and funding: MOIA said the procurement produced 25 three-year contracts funded at $250,000 annually per contractor. MOIA cited a total annual funding figure in testimony that was given as $6,250,000 and then later corrected in the hearing to $6,650,000 for the legal support centers; MOIA also cited $400,000 for the legal technical mentorship (LTM) provider. Council members said the council had restored an additional $4.4 million in one-year funding for former Action NYC providers.

- Service model: The centers are expected to provide comprehensive legal screenings plus follow-up actions that may include full representation, pro se assistance, brief advice, or referrals to Immigration legal organizations (IOI providers). MOIA described elective activities (clinics, "Know Your Rights" sessions, volunteer training) and said centers have flexibility under a "units-of-service" system. Each legal support center is expected to complete 600 units of service annually, with 500 units tied to required screening-plus-follow-up activities.

- Capacity and mentorship: Deputy Commissioner Lorena Lucero said MOIA added a legal technical mentorship component to build provider capacity for complex cases (special immigrant juvenile status, motions to reopen, habeas petitions and asylum work). MOIA named partners including Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC), Immigrant ARC (IARC) and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network for technical assistance and training.

- Hotline and early metrics: MOIA said its immigration legal hotline (operated by Catholic Charities) logged more than 64,000 calls in calendar 2024 and nearly 46,000 calls so far in 2025; MOIA reported about 3,500 comprehensive legal screenings conducted by the new centers since their July 2025 launch.

Council concerns and questions

Several council members pressed MOIA on whether the new structure reduces flexibility for providers and whether the modest per-contract funding increase (from previous tiers to a uniform $250,000) was adequate for organizations that perform different types of work. "It begs a question around fairness versus equity, and not everyone is actually doing the same work or has the actual competency to do the work in this changing landscape," one member said.

Members also asked for detailed, per-center descriptions of limits and services, maps of center locations and clarity about how one-year contracts for legacy providers would be sustained beyond the current fiscal year. MOIA officials repeatedly offered to provide tables, maps and a program comparison showing deliverables before and after the procurement.

Costs and sustainability

MOIA and witnesses cited an outside estimate that it would cost approximately $188.5 million to provide comprehensive legal services citywide: about $145 million to guarantee counsel for people in immigration court and $43.5 million for other immigration services. MOIA said current city funding for immigrant legal services is roughly $120 million to $123 million.

What to watch

Council members asked MOIA to make more program details public (per-center services and limitations, staffing plans, waitlist numbers) and urged more baseline (multi-year) funding so providers can hire permanent staff. MOIA said it is conducting monthly reporting and quarterly one-on-ones with providers and is prepared to modify contracts when necessary, but that contract modifications and procurement changes take time.

MOIA pledged to provide the council with more granular tables, a map of center locations and a breakdown of deliverables, and acknowledged the need for continued engagement with the council to respond to rapidly changing needs.