Legal Services Funding

New York State has long been a national leader in supporting immigration legal services. However, immigrant New Yorkers are currently facing unprecedented challenges due to actions of the current administration. As ICE arrests have tripled across the nation, New York has seen some of the most drastic increases. Between January and July of 2025, ICE detained nearly 5,000 New Yorkers. As of August 2025, nearly 340,000 cases are pending before New York State immigration courts, and the number of detained immigrants has nearly doubled in the past year.

New York has the opportunity to rise to this moment and once again show leadership in ensuring that immigrants can access sustainable and comprehensive legal help. Immigration legal services allows people to stay with their families, work, go to school, and remain in their communities. legal representation can mean the difference between staying at home or permanent family separation, and even the difference between life or death.

We need to invest in $175 million in immigration services and infrastructure:

• $85 million to sustain existing legal and social services programs, fund recruitment and retention initiatives, and ensure equitable compensation.
• $50 million to stand up new emergency deportation defense and social services.
  $40 million for capacity-building and infrastructure investments to expand the pipeline of immigration legal professionals entering the field and strengthen provider infrastructure to support scaling up services.

Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense (BUILD) Act

New York needs to ensure stability in our immigration legal services so that immigrant New Yorkers can keep their families together, continue working and contributing to their communities. The BUILD Act (A2689/S4538) would invest four years of funding to grow and strengthen legal services through:

• Workforce development and training.
• Expansion of legal representation to underserved communities and rural regions.
• Integration of social workers and community-based organizations to coordinate client support and free up attorney time.
• Investment in physical, administrative, and technological infrastructure.

Access to Representation Act 

Unlike in the criminal legal system, immigrants do not have a right to a government-paid attorney in immigration court. As a result, immigrants who cannot afford a lawyer or find a nonprofit organization to help must represent themselves in immigration proceedings. These proceedings are often complicated and difficult, even for the most well-educated layperson and this is compounded for people who may have limited English language. The consequences of losing a case are devastating, including detention in dangerous facilities, permanent family separation and people being returned to unsafe situations. 

Representation alone can significantly increase the chances of winning a case. Studies have shown that immigrants with representation are up to 10 times more likely to obtain relief from deportation than those without, and that detained immigrants with representation are 3.5 times more likely to be granted bond, enabling their release from detention.

We need to pass the Access to Representation Act (A270/S141) to establish a right to counsel in immigration court under a universal representation model, ensuring that anyone facing deportation who cannot afford a lawyer will be provided one.

New York for All 

Our entire community is safer when all residents, regardless of immigration status, feel safe driving to work, taking their kids to school and reporting crimes to law enforcement. Unfortunately, many members of the immigrant community often feel unsafe interacting with state and local government agencies for fear that this will lead to a devastating interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Westchester County Immigration Protection Act was an important local step in building trust between local residents and law enforcement by defining what information county law enforcement can share with federal officials. It is now critical that we bring this legislation to the state level.

We need to pass the New York for All Act (S.987 Gounardes / A.5686 Reyes) to broadly prohibit state and local officers from enforcing federal immigration laws, funneling people into ICE custody, and sharing sensitive information with federal immigration authorities. The Act also prohibits ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from entering non-public areas of state and local property without a judicial warrant. It also ensures that people in custody are given notice of their rights before being interviewed by ICE, and begins the process of limiting ICE and CBP access to state information databases.

Local Resources

The Westchester County Immigrant Protection Act (IPA) only applies to County employees. In terms of law enforcement, the IPA applies to Westchester County Department of Public Safety employees. The IPA does not apply to the dozens of local police departments that provide law enforcement for municipalities across the county. 

There are a variety of potential policies municipalities can take to safeguard immigrants, many of which have already been implemented by municipalities in Westchester. Click here for more information on how you work to ensure that your municipality is taking steps to safeguard
immigrants.

Language Access

Many immigrant New Yorkers are unable to access critical state services due to language barriers. Under current law, state agencies must provide for the translation of vital documents in the 12 most commonly spoken non-English languages and provide interpretation services in any language with respect to the provision of agency services or benefits. Despite this, interpretation and translation services remain inconsistent at the county level, particularly at the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Education.

We need to pass the Language Access Expansion Act (S3381A- A7235) to expand access to language services to regional areas by directing county agencies to provide interpretation and translation services, including local languages to the statewide language list, and requiring county agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles and Department of Education to provide in-person interpretation.

We also need to commit $10 million to expand language access and build New York’s diverse and multilingual workforce by creating a learning language justice cooperative.