State to help fund legal services for immigrant kids after Trump cuts program

Governor Kathy Hochul announced the allocation of more than $7 million to pay for legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigration court. Photo via Governor Kathy Hochul/Flickr

By Ryan Schwach

The state is putting up more than $7 million to pay for legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigration court after the Trump administration ended its contract with legal services providers, leaving 1,400 children in New York to represent themselves in deportation cases, officials announced on Wednesday.

“Just when you think it can't get any worse, the Trump administration has found a brand new way to hurt children, innocent children, cutting off legal services for unaccompanied minors,” Governor Kathy Hochul said.

Advocates have reported that without the funding that helps provide legal services for the kids, children as young as five years old have been left to fend for themselves and manage complicated legal proceedings about their own immigration status.

“Imagine being that little kid so scared in an unfamiliar country, missing mom and dad, not knowing much English, trying to defend yourself in a courtroom,” Hochul said. “Any parent knows that is preposterous.”

“It's cruel,” she added. “It's illegal.”

Hochul said the state will fund legal services for the children to the tune of $7.25 million, adding on to around $16 million already baselined in the city’s budget.

“Many do not yet even speak the language in which they are to defend themselves, and even if they do, these are children that we are speaking about,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “They do not know how to navigate a courtroom, they do not know how to fill out an asylum application, they do not know how to ask for relief, they do not know how to gather evidence or to plead their case. And yet the consequences that they will face simply for coming to this country in search of a better life will be immediate and will be severe.”

Both Hochul and Mamdani used strong language to call out the Trump administration’s cutting of the services.

The mayor called it “a betrayal of some of the most vulnerable people in our city,” and Hochul described it as an example of the “utter lack of humanity and compassion coming out of Washington.”

Queens State Senator Kristen Gonzalez was present at the press conference on Wednesday.

“I applaud Governor Hochul for adding $7.25 million in funding for legal services for unaccompanied minors that will serve 1,400 young people,” she said in a statement to the Eagle. “New York was built by immigrants, and we must continue to protect our neighbors from intimidation and overreach by the federal government.”

For the better part of the last two decades, the federal government has provided funding for the abandoned kids through the Acacia Center of Justice, which subcontracted to other providers nationwide. The policy was created in 2008, under Republican President George W. Bush.

On July 31, after months of denying payment for the contract, the federal government ended the service completely.

Burke Law Group, a small, 26-person Houston-based law firm, got a contract worth up to $150 million a year from the federal government to take up the work, Politico reported earlier this month. However, none of the lawyers in the firm list immigration law as a realm of expertise and the firm does not take on immigration cases.

“For decades, the federal government has recognized that these children, like any other, need a helping hand,” said Frankie Miranda, the CEO of the Hispanic Federation. “Unfortunately, the Trump administration had made the inhumane decision to leave unaccompanied children in the dark by ending long-standing federal funding for legal services.”

“The cruel decision to end this program has purposely disrupted a network of organizations that have the specialized knowledge necessary to serve this uniquely vulnerable population,” he added.

New York’s latest square-off with the Trump administration comes as the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers grows in Queens and across the city.

The New York Immigration Coalition said they were aware of at least 20 incidents where ICE agents were operating within Queens in the past two weeks.

“We are seeing ICE operate lawlessly and roguely, as we have seen them for the past year and seven months, this is not new,” said NYIC President and CEO Murad Awawdeh on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Queens officials and advocates rallied in Corona against ICE activity in the World’s Borough.

“Every single day, we get text messages from ICE watchers saying that ICE is in our communities,” State Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas said. “It doesn't matter if you're a small business owner. Doesn't matter if you're a five-year-old child. They are coming after all of us.”

During Wednesday’s press conference, Hochul tried to reassure New Yorkers that the state has some of the most comprehensive laws to limit ICE’s ability to operate in the Empire State.

“I know everyone's concerned, very concerned,” she said. “I want to reassure you that we are keeping a close eye on it.”