Immigration Legal Advocates Call For Emergency Funding to Assist Increase in Asylum Seekers Being Bussed to New York City and State
Contact: Megan Eisspress@immigrantarc.org917-257-1058www.immigrantarc.orgImmigration Legal Advocates Call For Emergency Funding to Assist Increase in Asylum Seekers Being Bussed to New York City and State
Brooklyn, NY; August 3, 2022 - Immigrant ARC (I-ARC) and its members are calling on New York City and New York State to provide $10 million in emergency funding to address the legal needs of the thousands of asylum seekers being bussed here from Texas and Arizona.
On July 21st, New York City Mayor Eric Adams held a press conference noting that the Governors of Texas and Arizona were actively sending migrants via bus from the border to NYC. I-ARC has been monitoring this issue from the beginning, and it has been confirmed by a number of our member organizations who, over the last month, have reported an alarming increase in the number of individuals arriving at their offices from the border seeking services. The individuals and families are arriving, often with only the clothes on their backs, traumatized by their journey and without any connections in New York. They are being placed in deportation proceedings while struggling to find shelter, food, and to keep their families together. Legal service providers are rushing to help, but with caseloads already at capacity from years of increased immigration enforcement and pandemic delays, they are struggling to meet the need. Without proper legal representation, these individuals are at risk of being deported back to the very places they fled without having the opportunity to make their case for protection to US government agencies.
“The most immediate legal need is to increase the capacity of legal services to intake, screen, and give legal orientations to these individuals. Based on current estimates, we ask that $10 million be allocated by the City and State to immediately increase capacity at these organizations,” stated Camille Mackler, Executive Director of Immigrant ARC. “Looking towards the future, additional funding will be required to provide long-term representation to these individuals, who, if given the chance to make an application, nonetheless face a years-long process through the immigration system. More broadly, we must move away from reactive funding to crises after the fact. It is imperative that we create and fund systems in a way that allows providers to pivot to the immediate needs at any given time and serve a maximum number of people in a holistic way. This includes passing the Access to Representation Act currently pending in the State legislature, increasing current funding streams in the meantime to meet current needs, and implementing contract reforms to allow providers to serve a maximum number of people.”
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Immigrant ARC is a collaborative of over 80 organizations and professional associations providing legal services to New York’s immigrant communities throughout the State. Born out of the legal effort at JFK Airport during the Muslim Travel Ban in 2017, our mission is clear: to mobilize New York State’s legal service providers by facilitating communication and information sharing to better support our immigrant communities; to organize and respond to issues as they arise by coordinating resources and fostering best practices among providers; and to resist and challenge anti-immigrant policies by shining a light on injustices and confronting inequalities faced by our communities in the legal system.
