NEW YORK (AP) — New York City lawmakers are funding a program that will provide public defenders for all poor immigrant New York City residents who have been detained in the immigration system and are facing deportation.
It’s billed as the first of its kind in the country.
Lawmakers approved $4.9 million for the upcoming fiscal year as part of the $75 billion budget passed early Thursday. The program covers eligible New York City residents appearing in immigration courts in the city, and in Elizabeth and Newark, N.J.
Advocates for the program say immigration law is incredibly complex and those without lawyers almost never win their cases.
There is no guaranteed right to representation in the immigration system as there is in the criminal justice system.
