While the city grapples with a huge illegal immigration crisis, New York City officials continue to spend tens of millions of dollars on illegal immigrants who resist deportation orders, according to budget data reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. are.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants have flocked to the Big Apple over the past few years, and authorities are shelling out billions of dollars for food, housing, travel and a variety of other government-funded accommodations. The wave of illegal immigration to New York City, with its generous sanctuary city laws making it an attractive jurisdiction for many undocumented immigrants, ultimately forced New York City to tighten restrictions on shelter stays. Instead, it prompted Mayor Eric Adams to speak out in September 2023. announce Significant 5% budget cuts for all government agencies.

But as residents continue to face a deepening immigration crisis on their doorstep, the city has for years maintained a near-steady flow of funding for one particular service: pro bono lawyers for immigrants facing deportation orders. was maintained. Taxpayers spent $17.35 million in fiscal year 2022, $16.6 million in fiscal year 2023, and an additional $16.6 million in fiscal year 2024 for the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP). According to City budget data.

NYIFUP is an initiative made up of lawyers who provide free legal representation to foreign nationals in immigration proceedings. While the city directs taxpayer funds to other nonprofit organizations that provide a variety of immigration services, NYIFUP attorneys specialize in representing aliens detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). . (Related: Exclusive: ‘You’re not off the table’: Tom Homan makes clear that all illegal immigrants should sweat)

“By hiring a lawyer, you are much more likely to fight your deportation case and mount a defense,” says the Legal Aid Society (LAS), one of the nonprofit organizations working with NYIFUP. The program manager explains. in promotional video for the project.

In addition to LAS, Bronx Defenders and Defender Services form the NYIFUP initiative. These attorneys represent undocumented immigrants regardless of their income, eligibility for relief, or criminal history. According to Bronx Defenders.

Providing free representation to detained aliens, regardless of their criminal history, pays the price for the large number of undocumented immigrants who have been charged or convicted of heinous crimes and are challenging deportation orders. This means that taxpayers may have to bear the burden.

That predicament doesn’t sit well with New York City’s more hawkish members.

“This issue has gone far enough,” Republican City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov told DCNF about the city’s multi-million deportation defense plan. “New York City needs to stop being a city-state and act as part of a whole, under the jurisdiction of the nation’s highest immigration law, the national government, in accordance with the U.S. Constitution.”

“I’m interested in dealing with reality, and the reality is that this rigged experiment has failed,” the councilor continued. “We need to strip our taxpayer dollars away from any organization that allows criminal illegal immigrants to wreak havoc on our cities.”

Mr. Vernikov is not the only New York Republican unhappy with the idea of ​​New Yorkers paying for immigration lawyers.

Republican City Councilman David Carr told DCNF, “It’s a ridiculous expenditure of taxpayer resources.” “While the federal government seeks to enforce immigration laws, cities like New York should not undermine that effort, especially when it comes to defending criminals. We should deport criminal aliens as quickly as possible. ”

Fed up with the number of violent crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants, Mr. Vernikov and Mr. Carr were part of a group of moderate City Council members who introduced a bill in June to repeal the city’s sanctuary law.

Policies in place in the Big Apple prohibit New York City police from aiding or cooperating with ICE in most cases, despite growing pressure from Adams and other Democrats. The task of reversing sanctuary city policies has so far proven hopeless in some cities. The majority are liberal members.

Over the past year, New York City has made several major decisions regarding alleged crimes committed by illegal immigrants, including the conviction of a Guatemalan national who burned a woman alive on the subway and a Venezuelan immigrant who, after immigrating, killed Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. The headlines have been making a fuss. Or the Nicaraguan man who was previously arrested for another sexual assault and charged with raping a woman at knifepoint.

NEW YORK – MAY 11: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents escort a Mexican gang member to court after his arrest in New York City on May 11, 2005. (Photo by Robert Nickelsburg/Getty Images)

The unprecedented illegal immigration crisis under the Biden administration has unsurprisingly resulted in record immigration court backlogs. According to Congressional report released in November. The number of pending immigration cases reached 2.5 million by the end of fiscal year 2023 and approximately 3.6 million by the end of fiscal year 2024.

As of May 2024, approximately 29% of immigrants with disputes had legal representation. According to Data compiled by Transactional Record Access Clearinghouse. But immigrants who have legal representation are far more likely to prevail in deportation proceedings and ultimately be allowed to remain in the United States. 2016 survey The American Immigration Council found that detainees with representation are twice as likely to receive immigration relief as those without representation.

The national push for universal representation in immigration courts stems from the seriousness of immigration violations. It’s a civil crimeThis means that defendants do not have a Sixth Amendment right to an attorney, even if they are too poor to pay for one. To fill that gap, organizations like the Vera Institute for Justice, which helped launch NYIFUP, have helped establish taxpayer-funded deportation defense initiatives in a number of major cities over the past decade.

The Big Apple is where the push for universal immigration representation began. assigned city $500,000 The 2014 budget included funding for a pilot program to provide immigration representation, and the following year the City Council expanded this funding to almost $5 millionstrengthen the establishment of NYIFUP.

The New York City project ultimately gave rise to Vera’s Safety and Justice for Everyone (SAFE) network, which is now The group says there is More than 55 jurisdictions across the country have publicly funded deportation defense programs in place.

Vera did not respond to requests for comment from DCNF.

Matt O’Brien, director of research at the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), told DCNF, “Why would New York City want to spend scarce taxpayer funds to help foreign illegal offenders fight deportation?” It’s difficult to understand,” he said. IRLI, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for stronger immigration enforcement, tracks the spread of deportation defense efforts and warns that the trend is growing across the United States.

Champions of publicly funded deportation defense include President Joe Biden. $150 million In his 2023 budget, he included a provision to provide representation for immigrants in deportation proceedings. But this request was pretty meager compared to what advocates at the American Immigration Lawyers Association are calling for. promoted the parliament It will provide $400 million in funding for a pilot program in 2023, and a coalition of more than 100 organizations will launch in April 2024. called on federal lawmakers Recommended $400 million in federal funding in the fiscal year 2025 budget.

The national immigration crisis has hit the city particularly hard. Government officials expect the city to provide subsidies. Over $12 billion Caring for asylum seekers through fiscal year 2025.

Adams once much more welcoming As the crisis intensifies and attention-grabbing headlines abound about criminal illegal immigrants, the focus on people living in the country illegally has shifted to the right. Democratic Party Mayor met recently In December, he met with incoming Border Czar Tom Homan, during which the two discussed a range of immigration-related issues, with Adams hinting at further cooperation in the future.

But despite his increasingly hawkish views on enforcement, Adams’ position as a representative of taxpayer-funded aliens in deportation proceedings is not entirely clear. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment from DCNF, and neither did the Adams Office of Immigration Affairs.

“New Yorkers struggle to make a living in one of the world’s most expensive cities, while recently arrived immigrants commit crimes reminiscent of New York’s bygone mafia days,” O’Brien said. ” he said. “The absolute quickest way to restore safe communities and financial solvency would be for the Big Apple to help ICE deport every single illegal alien and visa overstay in the five boroughs. ”

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