![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/hochul-funding-immigrant-kids-legal-2.jpg\" "\\"New")
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Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Attorney General Letitia James stood together today against the Trump Administration\u2019s aggressive federal immigration enforcement and reminded New Yorkers of their rights and protections. (Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)<\/p>\n
New York will fund legal services for approximately 1,400 unaccompanied immigrant children who are facing active removal proceedings, including the more than 250 young people who are currently detained, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced<\/a> on Wednesday. The $7.25 million in funding will help vulnerable children access legal representation after the Trump administration allowed a nationwide federal contract providing legal services for over 24,000 unaccompanied migrant children to expire on July 31. The new state funding will ensure all children in active removal proceedings have access to representation.<\/p>\n The federal government has been required by law to protect immigrant children and provide necessary legal representation to unaccompanied minors. The Trump administration has not shown an intent to uphold this requirement with replacement contracts, creating instability for children, who are more likely to be trafficked, abused, and otherwise placed in vulnerable positions.<\/p>\n The New York State Office for New Americans (ONA), the nation\u2019s first statutorily created immigrant services office, is executing $7.25 million in contracts in partnership with a group of legal services providers led by the Hispanic Federation to support children who were previously aided by the federal program. <\/p>\n \u201cNo child in our state should ever face the fear and uncertainty of the immigration process without advocates and legal support in their corner,\u201d Hochul said. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Trump Administration is walking away from these children, New York is stepping up to help bridge the gap and ensure their continued access to the services they need and deserve. When we lose sight of our shared responsibility to protect children, we lose sight of who we are as a country, and as Governor, I will not let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Following an unprecedented escalation<\/a> in aggressive federal immigration enforcement, Governor Hochul signed one of the nation\u2019s most comprehensive set of laws to prevent this overreach by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agents, including laws that:<\/p>\n Prohibit local law enforcement from being deputized by ICE for federal civil immigration enforcement by eliminating 287(g) agreements, barring state and local police from acting as civil immigration agents, or using taxpayer-funded resources or personnel to carry out federal civil immigration enforcement and detention.<\/p>\n Establish a state right to sue federal, state, and local officials, including ICE officers, for constitutional violations.<\/p>\n Deny ICE permission to enter sensitive locations\u2014including schools, libraries, health care facilities, polling locations, and homes\u2014without a judicial warrant.<\/p>\n Strictly prohibit the use of state, local, or school civil resources\u2014including employee time\u2014for civil immigration enforcement activities.<\/p>\n Ensure all students can access education without fear of ICE interference, codifying the right to a free public education regardless of immigration status.<\/p>\n Advocates for stronger state legislation have called for the creation of a right to legal representation in immigration courts for any immigrants at risk of deportation. Advocates have also pointed out that the state laws do not restrict unofficial communications between law enforcement and ICE the way New York City\u2019s sanctuary laws<\/a> do. <\/p>\n \u201cNew York will never stand by while vulnerable children are left to navigate our immigration system alone,\u201d Attorney General Letitia James said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue fighting to protect immigrant New Yorkers and push back against federal overreach that puts families and communities at risk. Every New Yorker deserves a fair day in court and access to justice, and I thank Governor Hochul for taking the initiative to fund these critical legal services.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED:<\/p>\n \n Interested in similar content? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Governor Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and Attorney General Letitia James stood together today against the Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":["post-320682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}