In Response to ICE Abducting Immigrants at Courts, Comptroller Lander Demands that the City Scale Up Immigrant Legal Services

New York, NY—In light of the escalation of immigration enforcement by the Trump Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detaining immigrants outside of courtrooms, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander demanded that New York City bolster its immigrant legal services and protections. The City scaled up several of these programs, from ActionNYC to Rapid Response Legal Collaborative, in response to the anti-immigrant policies of the first Trump Administration, but in subsequent years, the Adams Administration cut or restructured these resources. The Comptroller’s report recommends increasing the City’s annual investment in immigration legal services by $170 million, bringing the total to $230 million per year up from about $60 million per year, alongside recommendations designed to better protect immigrant New Yorkers.

“Despite New York being a welcoming harbor for generations of immigrants, President Donald Trump and ICE are now abducting immigrants as their cases are dismissed in court, leaving many New York immigrants frozen in fear,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “During Trump’s first term, our City protested at airports and over bridges, filed injunctions against executive orders, and stood up pro-bono legal services—and this time, New York City can be greater and safer by protecting our immigrant neighbors, friends, and family. Rather than shutting the door on new New Yorkers as the Adams Administration has done, we can retain New York’s immigrant tradition and invest in the future of our city.” 

Since day one of the Trump Administration, federal immigration authorities have taken unprecedented enforcement actions and canceled the lawful status of hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including tens of thousands of New Yorkers. These changes are felt acutely in New York City, where nearly three million immigrants live and where half of all residents live with an immigrant. The abrupt terminations of lawful status leaves thousands in legal limbo and without protection.  

Immigration legal services can help stabilize a person’s immigration status, find pathways to citizenship, and defend against deportation. Without access to legal representation, many non-citizen New Yorkers face the reality of detention and deportation, which can tear families apart, destabilize communities, and undermine economic growth. 

As the Comptroller’s Office previously reported, pathways to work authorization and naturalization allow for greater earning potential which, in turn, results in great tax revenue and economic benefits to New York City. Immigrant New Yorkers are more likely to be employed, create jobs by starting a business, and contribute billions of dollars to our New York economy in spending power and tax revenue. In 2021, immigrant New Yorkers paid $61 billion in taxes and constituted $138 billion in spending power. While the Trump Administration’s immigration policies create an economic toll created, the human cost is even more severe.  

As the federal government places a greater emphasis on enforcement, detention, and deportation, New York urgently needs legal services. Access to representation in removal proceedings protects immigrants from undue influence by federal prosecutors and greatly improves their chances of winning their case. Every year, thousands of children of all ages appear in New York City immigration courts without an attorney. With legal representation, these children have a 90% success rate in winning their cases. Without an attorney, they have an 85% chance of being deported.  

Legal service providers struggle to sustain the work amid federal funding cuts and retaliation; yet, while the Trump Administration ramped up immigration enforcement tactics, Mayor Adams increased the City government’s cooperation with immigration authorities and failed to provide funding for these services in his Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget. 

In this brief, to address funding failures amid an escalation of federal immigration enforcement, the Comptroller’s Office recommends: 

• Dramatically increasing the City’s investments in immigration legal services, including:   

• • $60 million for immigration legal services, including for the restoration of  ActionNYC in schools, libraries, and hospitals.    

• • $40 million for the Immigration Opportunity Initiative (IOI) which provides legal services to low-income immigrants for citizenship, permanent residence, and other immigration-related legal services.   

• • $34 million for the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP), the City’s first and largest public defender program in the country for detained immigrants in removal proceedings before an immigration judge.   

• Restoring critical legal services programs that have been cut or eliminated including:  

• • ICARE’s programs to provide legal representation to unaccompanied children in removal proceedings with an $11 million investment, which are subject to federal funding cuts.   

• • The Rapid Response Legal Collaborative (RRLC), which provides legal assistance to those detained with a $25 million investment, or at imminent risk of detention and deportation.   

• Expanding I-ARC’s Friend of the Court Program to protect immigrants against abuse of power when individuals appear unrepresented in immigration court.   

• Repurposing the Asylum Application Help Center Infrastructure to continue connecting asylum seekers in City shelters to legal services.   

• Mobilizing City agencies and frontline workers to protect immigrants from federal immigration enforcement by training workers, funding know your rights education, and licensing street vendors.      

• Strengthening the City’s Sanctuary Laws, including passing the New York City Trust Act (Intro 214-2024, sponsored by Council Member Shahana Hanif) that would create a private right of action for individuals unlawfully detained or targeted through City cooperation with federal immigration authorities—and hold agencies financially accountable for damages through their own budgets.  

• Passing the Access to Representation Act (S141/A270 sponsored by Senator Brad  Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz), which would guarantee legal representation to New Yorkers facing deportation who cannot afford an attorney of their own.  

“Mayor Adams’ complicity as the Trump Administration’s deportation agenda unfolds is shameful and dangerous, ripping apart the very fabric of our city,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif, Co-Chair of the Council’s Progressive Caucus. “I commend the Comptroller’s Office for outlining urgent steps to strengthen our City’s immigration defense strategies, including expanding legal representation services and passing my bill, the New York City Trust Act, which would ensure accountability for agencies that violate our sanctuary policies. When immigrant communities are attacked, we cannot stand by. We must fight back to uphold our commitment as a sanctuary for the immigrant New Yorkers who strengthen our city and country every day.”

“We’re watching a crisis unfold in plain sight, unaccompanied children being fast-tracked through deportation without legal counsel, retraumatized by a system that sees them as threats instead of kids in need of protection. The failure to fund legal services is a failure to protect young New Yorkers. As a coalition of frontline legal providers, we see the consequences, and the futures at stake, every day. Without increased investment, there is no real access to due process. We urge the City to meet this moment with urgency and fund the legal representation these young people need and deserve.” said Sierra Kraft, Executive Director, ICARE Coalition.

“When immigrants face deportation without legal representation, they face a system stacked against them. That’s why we’re calling for increased funding for the frontline legal service providers across New York — our member organizations who are in court every day defending the rights and dignity of our immigrant neighbors. Legal representatives are not just legal help; they are lifelines for immigrant communities. Immigrant ARC’s Friend of the Court program has assisted nearly 3000 individuals who could not access a lawyer. We know firsthand the fear and confusion that creates. Increasing legal services funding has never been more crucial in this period of increased enforcement. We appreciate the Comptroller’s steady uplifting of this issue and join his urgent call to increase funding,” said Gillian Rowland-Kain, Interim Director of Programs, Immigrant ARC. 

“With their labor, immigrants build New York City every day. The legal services they require are not just budget lines. They represent life-saving resources to keep families and communities together. At a time of unprecedented attacks from the federal government, the city budget must defend our rights and affirm our dignity. Smart and fair investments in legal services reflect who we are as a welcoming city that believes in opportunities for all. New York must move forward with courage and care, and that begins with funding immigration legal services at the scale this moment demands,” said Vladimir Tlali, Senior Policy Strategist at the New York Immigration Coalition.

“City leaders love to say New York is a city of immigrants where small businesses are the backbone of our communities. Why then do their policies force our city’s smallest businesses, street vendors, into a system of outdated, discriminatory laws, offering handcuffs and fines rather than business licensing? City council must ensure we have a functioning system that serves all stakeholders by passing the Street Vendor Reform Package, rather than what exists now which fails everyone. This is a moment of urgency where we need action from our elected leaders. Our city’s policies should support our economy while uplifting our values, rather than imitating the Trump administration’s cruel agenda. Enacting these bills will reinforce our commitment to the values that define New York and ensure the well-being of New York families, businesses, and communities,” said Carina Kaufman-Gutierrez, Deputy Director, Street Vendor Project. 

Read the full report: https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/protecting-our-neighbors

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