07/09/2025 | Press release | Archived content
As our immigrant communities continue to face unprecedented attacks from the current federal administration, our city needs a budget that reflects the urgent needs of this dire moment. The proposed spending plan for the next fiscal year includes $74.7 million for immigration legl services - a funding lifeline for our work with immigrant New Yorkers.
Of the programs in this category, legal services for low-income immigrants received a more than 600% budget increase from $4.4 million to $33.3 million this year. The budget also increased funding for the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative (RRLC), a state-supported program that supports people through its Office for New Americans.
"There was increased investment in Rapid Response work, reflecting what we are seeing on the ground: increased detentions and deportations of individuals and families," said Jodi Ziesemer, co-director of the immigrant protection unit at New York Legal Assistance Group, one of three legal service providers that are part of RRLC.
"Violating due process norms, this increased immigration enforcement includes people who have U.S. citizen family, may be eligible for immigration relief and who deserve an opportunity to be heard."
Read the full story in City Limits, originally published on July 9, 2025.
NYLAG attorneys, like Rebecca Rubin, spoke with Gothamist about the conditions immigrants detained in federal holding rooms in Lower Manhattan are reporting.
NYLAG secures reevaluation of client's immigration case following judge's "abuse of discretion," reaffirming the right to counsel in credible fear proceedings.
Estos cinco recursos vitales pueden ayudar a quienes se representan a sí mismos en un tribunal de inmigración a conocer sus derechos y oponerse a la desestimación de sus procedimientos judiciales.
These 5 vital resources can help those representing themselves in immigration court know their rights and oppose the dismissal of their proceedings.
Dylan's asylum case has now been reinstated nearly one month after it was improperly dismissed on May 21 - a dismissal that led to his immediate arrest by plainclothes ICE officers and ongoing imprisonment in Pennsylvania.
In his first public statement since being detained by ICE in May, Bronx high schooler Dylan spoke on his detention and desire to be reunited with his family and friends.