Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that New York will spend $7.25 million to pay for legal help for unaccompanied migrant children facing deportation, a move she cast as a direct response to the federal government’s handling of the issue. The money will cover an estimated 1,400 children across the state, including about 250 who are in detention.
Hochul made the announcement in Manhattan alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani and state Attorney General Letitia James. She said the federal government had failed the children, arguing that the decision was both harsh and unlawful. Her office said the funding would support legal representation for children in removal proceedings at a time when many are left to navigate the immigration system without counsel.
The timing of the New York migrant children legal aid program follows the Trump administration’s decision to let lapse a contract with a network of roughly 100 providers that had worked with migrant children nationwide, according to the governor. Hochul tied the state’s new spending to that shift, saying New York needed to step in after federal support changed.
At the press conference, Hochul criticized the federal government’s treatment of children who enter the country alone. She pointed to the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, passed during President George W. Bush’s administration, which requires the US government to provide legal representation for children in deportation cases. Children who cross the border alone are generally placed under the care of the federal government and later matched with an adult sponsor, often a parent, relative or family friend, through the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The issue has been part of a broader fight over immigration enforcement and the care of minors who arrive without parents. Trump tightened rules in May to prevent illegal immigrants from acting as sponsors after the Office of Refugee Resettlement reportedly lost track of 320,000 children during President Joe Biden’s administration. That backdrop has made the question of who protects migrant children a flashpoint between state and federal leaders.
