A group of supporters and three state legislators from New York came together on Thursday to promote legislation that would provide free legal representation for immigrants in detention or facing deportation.
The lawmakers, Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz, state Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas, gathered at lower Manhattan’s Foley Square. They demanded that the state provide funding for legal services and that a statewide right-to-counsel bill for immigrants, which has been languishing for a long time, be passed.
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The first Dreamer to be elected to the state Legislature, Cruz is a Democrat from Queens, a former immigration attorney, and she stated, “Everyone comes here looking for freedom.” Cruz added, “Whether you came five minutes ago, five years ago or 15 years ago, you are a New Yorker, and we are going to fight for you.”
There has never been a vote on the measure. However, according to Cruz’s office, the state has doubled its yearly financing for legal assistance for immigrants from $10 million in 2019 to $63 million this year.
The next session of the state Legislature is anticipated to start next month.
The Access to Representation Act, which Cruz originally presented in 2019, aims to provide public support for legal services for all migrant clients in the state. The bill’s text states that there are more than 4 million immigrants living in New York State, including around 1 million who do not have legal status. According to Senate bill sponsor Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat from Manhattan, “bloated bureaucracy and poor administration of our law has left our immigration courts in disarray.”
According to Hoylman-Sigal, there are more than 190,000 pending immigration cases in the state; this number has increased in the past year due to an influx of asylum seekers into the five boroughs. According to him, the surge of newcomers makes the pressure even more urgent.
According to Mayor Adams’ administration, over 154,000 asylum seekers have entered the city since April 2022.
As per the American Civil Liberties Union, detained immigrants who have legal counsel have a tenfold higher chance of winning their cases compared to those who do not.
Holyman-Sigal demanded that the state double its yearly funding for immigration attorneys to a total of $125 million.
“The least we can do, folks,” At the rally, he stated, “is provide people facing deportation with a lawyer.
