In the face of federal funding gaps, New York state is taking action. 

“When we lose sight of our shared responsibility to protect God’s children here on earth as human beings, as parents, then we lose part of who we are,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday.  

The governor announced that she would be investing more than $7 million toward legal services for unaccompanied immigrant minors. 

The funding is meant to fill a hole left by the federal government that allowed a multimillion-dollar contract to lapse.

“We now have children in our midst. Children you may see who are now in danger. These cruel, depraved decisions can be a death warrant for our kids whose only sin was being born in poverty or in a country consumed with political violence, and their parents decided they were better off leaving,” Hochul said.

For nearly 20 years, the federal government complied with a law requiring it to protect children, but under President Donald Trump’s administration, that has changed. 

The funding ended on July 31. It is currently the focus of a lawsuit filed by legal providers over not getting paid for work already rendered. They charge that the agency stopped paying them when they refused to provide confidential information about their clients. 

A spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families said in a statement that they do “not comment on matters subject to ongoing litigation.” 

Amid the dispute, state officials say they’re stepping in. State Attorney General Letitia James applauded the effort.  

“It’s up to our state, it’s up to our city to move forward and protect these children and to not sit idly by and allow their rights to be violated or allow them to be in deportation proceedings and return to countries that are unfortunately very violent,” she said.

The funding is expected to help an estimated 1,400 unaccompanied minors, including 250 who are currently detained. 

Alongside state officials was Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who blasted the Trump administration’s decision. 

“Make no mistake about it. The refusal to renew the contract with providers who specialize in this work is nothing more than a deportation order.,” he said.

State officials said that unaccompanied minors range in age from as young as 5 years old to teenagers.