The immigration crisis in New York City has not stopped officials from spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on lawyers for illegal aliens, including criminals, according to data reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Budget information obtained by the news outlet showed that the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project continued to receive a steady flow of taxpayer funding over the past few years.
‘A ridiculous expenditure of taxpayer resources.’
NYIFUP is an initiative comprising several nonprofit organizations that provide free legal counsel to foreign nationals facing immigration proceedings. Specifically, the initiative offers services to individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
One nonprofit that makes up the NYIFUP, the Bronx Defenders, stated that the initiative provides representation to foreign nationals “regardless of income, criminal history, or relief eligibility.”
“By advocating for release on bond and reducing the amount of time our clients spend in ICE custody, we lower the social and economic costs of homelessness, foster care, and unemployment created by immigration detentions and avoidable deportations,” the organization claimed.
Over the past several years, New York City taxpayers have given more than $50 million to NYIFUP, including $17,350,000 in fiscal year 2022, $16,600,000 in 2023, and another $16,600,000 in 2024, according to the data obtained by Daily Caller News Foundation.
While NYIFUP absorbed taxpayer funds, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced 5% budget cuts across all city agencies in late 2023. As a result, the already short-staffed New York Police Department froze hiring. It also meant fewer trash pickups and cuts to pre-K programs. Adams blamed the budget cuts on the city’s immigration crisis.
“In all my time in government, this is probably one of the most painful exercises I’ve gone through,” the mayor said.
New York City Council Member Inna Vernikov (R) told the DCNF that the city’s immigration issue has “gone far enough.”
“New York City needs to stop acting as a city-state and more as a part of a whole, under the jurisdiction of a national government that, per the U.S. Constitution, is the highest law in the land in immigration,” she said. “I’m interested in dealing in reality, and the reality is that this rogue experiment has failed.”
“Our taxpayer dollars need to be ripped away from any organization that enables criminal illegal migrants to wreak havoc in our city,” Vernikov added.
City Council Member David Carr (R) told the news outlet that NYIFUP is “a ridiculous expenditure of taxpayer resources.”
“While the federal government seeks to enforce our immigration laws, cities like New York should not be undermining that work, especially when it comes to defending criminals. We should be deporting criminal aliens as quickly as we can,” Carr said.
Matt O’Brien, investigations director for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, told the DCNF, “It’s hard to understand why New York City would want to spend scarce taxpayer funds to enable foreign lawbreakers to fight deportation.”
Neither the mayor’s office nor the Office of Immigrant Affairs responded to the news outlet’s request for comment.
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News, New york city, New york, Immigration crisis, Immigration, Illegal immigration crisis, Eric adams, New york immigrant family unit project, Nyifup, Bronx defenders, Inna vernikov, David carr, Matt o’brien, Politics