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.

Legal Services Funding

New York State has been a national leader in supporting immigration legal services. However, even with strong existing programs, as of October 2024, more than 170,000 people in New York were fighting for their lives in immigration court without a lawyer. Legal services have a significant impact on the outcome of deportation proceedings for immigrants—78 percent of immigrants with lawyers win their cases, while only 15 percent of immigrants without representation are successful in their cases.

Given the policies of the Trump administration, New York needs to urgently prioritize investments to provide deportation defense services for immigrants, to fund recruitment and training of legal teams, build needed infrastructure, and responsibly expand rapid-response services.

We need to invest in $165 million in immigration services and infrastructure, with $100 million focused on direct immigration legal services and $65 million for higher education to build immigration legal services infrastructure.

Local Steps to Defend and Protect Immigrants

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.

Bolstering Unrepresented Immigrant Legal Defense Act (BUILD)

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 funds the infrastructure necessary for legal service providers to create, maintain, and expand robust programs to protect immigrant communities.

Ready to Work Workforce Development Funding

New York State has a significant labor shortage, with nearly 500,000 job openings in critical industries like health care, construction, and hospitality. This labor shortage harms New York’s workers, employers and economy. At the same time, there are hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers who could fill these jobs, but face real barriers to doing so.

The Ready to Work Campaign calls for a $100 million investment to stabilize New York’s workforce and economy by connecting employers with underutilized and untapped workers to fill the state’s 500,000 current job openings:

• $50 million to support base WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth funding. These funds would be allocated to local workforce areas in the same manner as current programs supported by Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and overseen by local workforce development boards. This additional funding would allow for services such as more individualized career advising for job seekers who often have multiple barriers to employment (ie: financial, educational, language, technology, substance use disorder, criminal history). This funding would also support additional grants for individuals participating in occupational skills training programs and on-the-job training grants for businesses.
• $50 million in enhanced supportive services (childcare, transportation, housing relocation, stipends for training programs, job placement navigators, language assistance) not generally funded by WIOA. This support would go to social service agencies, worker centers, and local businesses to better guarantee that untapped and underutilized workers with barriers are provided a pathway to gainful employment.

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. As of September 2023, nearly 145,000 people in New York were fighting their cases in immigration court without a lawyer.

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 (S999A Hoyman-Sigal / A170A Cruz) to ensure the right to counsel for all immigrants facing deportation in New York. This Act would mandate that New York State appoint a lawyer for anyone who cannot afford one and who is at risk of deportation.

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.