Keeping Families Together, Upholding the Rule of Law: An Urgent Call for Increased Immigration Legal Services in New York
March 2026
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
New York State is facing an urgent surge in demand for immigration legal services as federal enforcement intensifies under the second Trump administration. Sweeping policy changes, expanded detention, rapid asylum terminations, and increased transfers have placed immigrant New Yorkers at heightened risk – disrupting families, destabilizing communities, and overwhelming the legal services infrastructure designed to protect due process. While New York has long led the nation in funding civil legal aid, current resources are far outpaced by need. Providers consistently turn away far more clients than they can serve, even as they secure life-changing outcomes such as asylum, citizenship, work authorization, and family reunification for tens of thousands of residents each year.
Legal representation remains the decisive factor in immigration cases, yet immigrants have no right to appointed counsel in these civil proceedings. Research shows that represented immigrants are dramatically more likely to be released from detention, appear in court, and secure relief, while unrepresented individuals – especially children – face near-certain deportation regardless of the validity of their claims. At the same time, structural funding problems, stagnant per-attorney allocations, and chronic delays in State contracting have created severe recruitment and retention crises, undermining the capacity of legal services organizations to meet rising demand.
To respond to this crisis, $175 million is needed in the FY27 budget to stabilize and expand legal representation; passage of the Access to Representation Act is required to establish a statewide right to counsel in removal proceedings; and enactment of the BUILD Act is essential to strengthen long-term capacity. Together with urgently needed reforms to New York’s contracting and payment systems, these investments would protect due process, keep families together, and ensure the State’s response matches the scale of the federal enforcement landscape.