City Hall, NY – During the City Council’s Executive Budget hearing jointly held by the Committee on Immigration and the Committee on Finance on Tuesday, the Council identified budget gaps within the Mayor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Executive Budget for programs that help immigrant communities access healthcare, legal support, and education and workforce opportunities.

The FY 2026 Executive Budget includes $781,962 for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), unchanged from the Preliminary Budget and $62,419 less than the FY 2025 adopted budget. The Executive Budget also allocates funding for immigrant-related programs within other agencies, including IDNYC ($12.3 million), the Department of Education’s Immigrant Family Engagement ($4 million), and the Department of Youth and Community Development’s Immigrant Opportunity Initiative ($7.1 million). Additionally, MOIA oversees several programs, some of which have received additional funding within the Executive Budget – a few programs have increased funding compared to the FY 2025 adopted budget, but the Legal Support Hotline and English Support Center (WeSpeakNYC) have seen decreased funding of $754,170 and $1.1 million, respectively. Immigration legal services are among the greatest needs, given the ongoing aggressive, anti-immigrant policies and practices by the Trump administration, yet the Executive Budget was inconsistent in providing additional investments.

The following funding requests were outlined in the Council’s Preliminary Budget Response that support immigrant New Yorkers amidst federal cuts to legal services, changes to immigration policies, and aggressive federal enforcement. The items below are either underfunded or left out of the Mayor’s FY 2026 Executive Budget:

Immigration Legal Services

Increased demand and changing federal policies have overwhelmed the existing immigration legal services system, leaving both long-time immigrant New Yorkers and new arrivals struggling to access critical legal representation. To address this urgent need and avoid leaving people without appropriate support, the Council proposed the Administration invest $109 million to ensure continuity of services and to help meet the increased need, including $40 million for the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative (IOI) and $10 million for the Rapid Response program. This would ensure that immigrant New Yorkers have access to an attorney, while supporting organizations to recruit and retain the staff needed to meet growing demand.

Council Initiatives

The Council’s immigration budget initiatives of over $35 million, fund programs that provide legal services, health services, and assistance to navigate cultural and language barriers. These include the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project, CUNY Citizenship Now! program, Protect NYC Families, Welcome NYC, and Immigrant Health Initiative. It is critical that this funding, left out of the Mayor’s Executive Budget, is included in the final budget through a continued full commitment towards Council discretionary funding.

“Immigrants are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods, and a vital part of the fabric not only of New York City but the country as a whole,” said Council Member Alexa Aviles, Chair of the Committee on Immigration. “Our city has taken strides in funding initiatives that support the needs of our diverse immigrant communities, through programs such as legal service support, health services like NYC Care, and other critical services. However, as the federal government threatens our communities with mass deportation policies and cuts to local service organizations, our providers have struggled to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand. We must seriously increase our city’s capacity to meet the urgently heightening needs of immigrant New Yorkers and live up to our status as a proud sanctuary city.”

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