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NEW YORK — As federal immigration enforcement accelerates nationwide, a coalition of immigrant advocates is urging New York lawmakers to respond with a major expansion of legal protections, warning that thousands of families face detention and deportation without access to legal counsel.
The advocacy organization Vera Institute of Justice is calling for swift passage of key legislation and a significant increase in state funding for immigration legal services through the Campaign for Access, Representation, and Equity for Immigrant Families.
The renewed push comes amid heightened concern over aggressive immigration actions nationwide, including the killing of Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, by an agent of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis. Advocates say the incident underscores the urgent need for stronger state-level protections to safeguard due process for immigrants.
According to Vera, the campaign is calling for $175 million in fiscal year 2027 to fund sustainable, statewide immigration legal services, along with passage of the Access to Representation Act and the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense Act.
The measures are intended to shield New York residents from federal actions that advocates say are destabilizing families and communities. Vera also reports that nearly 12,800 people had been detained in New York through mid-October, more than double the number during the same period a year earlier.
More than 100 organizations have joined the effort, including the New York Immigration Coalition, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative.
As of November, Vera reported, pending cases before New York state immigration courts had reached 327,000, with nearly 30% of people facing deportation lacking legal representation.
The CARE Campaign describes its proposal as a comprehensive defense strategy built around three core demands: allocating $175 million in fiscal year 2027 for immigration legal services, passing the Access to Representation Act and approving the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense Act.
On the campaign’s website, CARE for Immigrant Families states that the Access to Representation Act would guarantee legal counsel for immigrants at risk of deportation in New York.
The group describes the Building Up Immigrant Legal Defense Act as a companion bill that would establish a dedicated four-year fund to support immigration legal services infrastructure.
The coalition argues that the immigration system is nearly impossible to navigate without an attorney and that access to legal assistance should not depend on the ability to pay.
Vera says the campaign is especially critical given the scale of the current enforcement apparatus and the scarcity of legal resources.
Alongside the rising number of pending cases, the organization points to what it describes as an unprecedented $170 billion federal enforcement budget that enables mass detention, sweeping raids and the deployment of federal troops, creating what advocates call severe threats to immigrant communities in New York.
Reporting by City & State New York has echoed those concerns, citing research that shows legal representation dramatically improves outcomes in immigration cases.
For people who are not detained, the outlet reported, representation increases the likelihood of a successful outcome to 60%, compared with 17% for those without attorneys.
Other studies, including research published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, have found that immigrants with legal counsel are more than 10 times as likely to establish their right to remain in the United States.
Elected officials and advocates have publicly criticized current federal immigration policies and called on New York to respond.
Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, a sponsor of the legislation, said the state must act to defend immigrant communities in the face of what she described as a mass deportation agenda targeting New Yorkers.
Sierra Craft, executive director of the Immigrant Children Advocates Relief Effort Coalition, said children are being forced through an immigration system never designed for them and are expected to make life-altering legal decisions without attorneys or trusted adults to guide them.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris, the Senate deputy leader and a sponsor of the legislation, said New York has an obligation to fight back against policies he said are tearing families apart and harming immigrant communities.
Vera also highlights that immigrants in removal proceedings are not guaranteed a right to appointed counsel, a gap advocates argue undermines due process.
The organization concludes that expanding legal protections would not only shield New Yorkers from aggressive federal actions but also promote economic stability as the state confronts labor shortages and slowing population growth.
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