Jodi Ziesemer, NYLAG’s Co-Director of our Immigrant Protection Unit, submitted testimony about FY 26’s preliminary budget to the New York City Council’s Committee on Immigration, particularly making the case for increased investments in organizations with deep expertise:
Long-term, continued and increased investment in legal services—including the deep expertise housed within our organizations—is crucial to meeting the current and future needs of immigrant families in New York. Our city of immigrants is under attack by the federal government, whose policies are undermining our security, subjecting our residents to cruel and inhumane enforcement and detention, and threatening our economy by dividing our communities…
Last year, the Mayor proposed cutting the [Rapid Response Legal Collaborative (RRLC)]’s budget in half despite the increase in the need and demand for RRLC services. While temporary funding from this Council helped avert a crisis, the program’s future remains precarious. This instability could not come at a worse time, when immigrant communities are facing unprecedented enforcement action which targets individuals and families with removal orders. Against that backdrop, demand for RRLC’s services continues to soar not only from immigrants but from community-organizations, religious leaders, and other legal service providers. With enforcement and deportation surging, the City Council must fully restore and expand RRLC’s $1,005,000 budget.
