According to a report from the New York Legal Service Coalition, there have been more than 500 changes to immigration law and policy since January 2025.
Attorneys at organizations like ILJNY and NYLAG are working at their absolute limits for longer and longer periods of time, the groups said.
Melissa Chua, the director of NYLAG’s Immigrant Protection Unit, told the Eagle that immigration cases have also been on the rise as ICE has changed its methods, picking up people without criminal histories, often in public settings.
Chua said one of their recent clients, who had lived in the U.S. for over twenty years and had two children born in the U.S., was picked up in a park while waiting for his wife after work. While the client was waiting, according to Chua, two federal agents approached him and showed him a picture of another supposed immigrant. The agents asked the client if he recognized the person in the photo, and once the client said no and asked to leave, agents arrested him and took him away.
His wife later arrived at the park looking for her husband, who was nowhere to be found.
The client spent months in detention, at first in the detention center in 26 Federal Plaza and then at a different site outside the city, before a filing by NYLAG attorneys led to his release.
“We’re definitely beyond capacity,” Chua told the Eagle. “Cases have become much longer, much more complicated because of changes of law in immigration court.”
New York funds free immigration representation for tens of thousands of people each year, but advocates say more is needed if the city is going to account for the federal government’s ongoing crackdowns.
In Fiscal Year 2026, the state invested approximately $64.2 million in immigration legal services and defense through the NYS Office for New Americans, more than any other state in the country. While significant, advocates said it’s simply not enough and more needs to be done by the city and the state to properly fund immigration legal aid.
On Monday, immigration advocates and elected officials rallied on the steps of City Hall to call on the city to invest $188 million for immigration legal services in the city’s budget.
“The city has to and must safeguard access to essential services and legal protections in response to this federal government’s harmful policies,” Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said. “We need continued investment in programs that empower and strengthen our communities.”
The group was joined by City Councilmembers Alexa Avilés, Harvey Epstein, Susan Zhuang and representatives of the Bronx Defenders.
“The full $188 million honestly isn’t even enough, but it is a very fair and realistic ask to help us meet the moment to help attorneys meet the moment,” Rosa Cohen-Cruz, the immigration policy director at Bronx Defenders, said. “The legal service community is tired, and we know that there are fresh faces out there ready to join us, ready to pick up the baton and continue, but we need to be able to bring them into the field.”
More funding means more opportunities for groups like ILJNY and NYLAG to apply for grants that could allow them to hire more staff and process complex immigrant court hearings at a much faster pace.
If other legal aid organizations are able to take on more clients, Fleck said, immigrants in the area would be given more options, helping to alleviate some of the pressure smaller organizations like ILJNY have dealt with over the past year.
“A rising tide lifts all boats,” Fleck said.