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Immigrant legal providers urge the City to baseline and expand deportation-defense funding
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Summary
At a council hearing on the FY2027 preliminary budget, NYFA, Legal Aid, Bronx and Brooklyn defenders and coalition partners described surges in enforcement and asked the council to baseline higher, multiyear funding for city-funded deportation defense, rapid-response legal efforts and youth-focused services.
Legal services providers told the Committee on Immigration that heightened ICE activity has increased demand for immediate and complex courtroom and appellate work and pressed the council to sustain and expand permanent funding.
Catherine Gonzalez, associate general counsel at Brooklyn Defender Services, testified about the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYFA), saying recent enforcement surges have forced providers to litigate in federal courts and to follow clients transferred out-of-state. "We are currently representing New Yorkers detained in at least 15 states because they've been moved," Gonzalez said, urging continued city support for NYFA.
Deborah Lee, who identified herself as attorney-in-charge of the Legal Aid Society's immigration unit, asked the council for increased NYFA funding and also requested separate allocations for unaccompanied minors, habeas litigation and low-wage worker initiatives. "This moment requires decisive city support," Lee said, and provided specific numbers on provider funding requests on the record.
Representatives of the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative, the Asylum Seeker Legal Assistance Network (ASLAN) and the Pro Se Plus project described real-time work at 26 Federal Plaza, expanded intake systems and the need for flexible, multiyear contracts. Christina Garrity of the Pro Se Plus project said the network had screened more than 10,000 newly arrived people and urged $5.7 million in city funding for the ASLAN network in FY27.
Commissioner Faiza Ali told the committee MOIA had baselineed $14.6 million for rapid response and legal support centers and an additional $1.5 million for English/support centers in the preliminary plan, and she described MOIA's ongoing work to allocate those funds across providers and to ensure continuity of services.
Advocates asked the council to consider multiyear awards and more flexible contracting to allow providers to scale up emergency litigation, habeas petitions and nationwide representation when clients are transferred out of state. The hearing produced no votes; providers and MOIA committed to follow up on exact allocation details and contracting timelines.
Ending: Providers requested concrete baseline support and multiyear awards so legal teams can plan and mount complex litigation without repeated short-term renewals.
