May 28, 2026

Neighbors Link Statement on NYS Budget and Legislation 

This year, individuals and communities across the state passionately advocated for New York to pass a budget and legislation that protects and defends immigrant New Yorkers. While we come out of this season proud of the work that has been accomplished, significant challenges remain.

New York State allocated $82.48 million for immigration legal services. While this is a small increase from previous years, it falls deeply short of what this moment needs. Immigrant New Yorkers are facing unprecedented threats to their safety due to an aggressive federal deportation and detention agenda. Legal service providers across the state are working tirelessly, but the demand continues to far outpace available resources. The lack of increased funding means that many immigrant New Yorkers will not be able to access the legal services they need to keep their families together and remain in their communities. We will continue our advocacy to ensure that New York will eventually deliver the fully funded legal services that immigrant families need.

At the same time, there was strong progress in legislation to protect immigrant New Yorkers. The immigration provisions in the Public Protections and General Government bill ban formal collusion between local law enforcement and ICE in the form of 287(g) agreements, establish the right for New Yorkers to sue federal agents who violate their constitutional rights in court, ban law enforcement from wearing masks while on duty, bar civil arrests from happening in  sensitive locations, and codifies that all children in New York have the right to public education regardless of immigration status. The bill also bars schools, state, and local agencies from sharing information or facilitating civil immigration enforcement and bans Intergovernmental Service Agreements, meaning that local jails are prohibited from contracting with ICE for the purposes of immigrant detention.

These are historic steps forward that will have a tangible impact on the lives of immigrant New Yorkers. However, this legislation does not address informal collusion with ICE. Neighbors Link remains concerned that informal collusion will still result in many immigrant New Yorkers being detained by ICE.

Here in Westchester County, we are fortunate to have proactive measures like the Immigrant Protection Act and local municipal resolutions that protect immigrant residents. We encourage individual municipalities throughout New York to pass their own local legislation to ban all forms of formal and informal collusion between police, local government, and federal immigration enforcement.

Thank you to everyone who called elected officials, came to rallies, submitted public testimony and stood alongside us in our advocacy work this season. Your efforts will have a lasting impact on the lives of immigrants throughout our community. However, significant work remains and we will continue to stand together to protect and defend immigrant New Yorkers.