New York plans to fund legal services for about 1,400 children with pending immigration cases who could lose their representation in court if the Trump administration stops paying for those services.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday, Aug. 12, that the state will put up $7.25 million for attorneys to represent the children, who have no parents or guardians with them as they seek legal status to remain in the U.S. About 250 of those unaccompanied minors are being held in federal detention, according to Hochul's office.
The decision stems from the Trump administration's efforts since March 2025 to cancel those legal funds, which the federal government has provided since 2008 under a law signed by then-President George W. Bush. Courts have blocked
the defunding efforts, but the federal contract for legal services expired on July 31, and it's unclear if and when that funding will be renewed.
That could leave children — many of whom are unaccompanied because their parents were deported — to fend for themselves in court, Hochul said at a press conference in New York City with Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
"Imagine being that little kid, so scared in an unfamiliar country, missing mom and dad, not knowing much English —trying to defend yourself in a courtroom?" Hochul said. "Any parent knows that is preposterous. It's cruel, it's illegal."
She pledged state funding to cover the costs, saying, "Going forward, these children will have the legal representation they need."
Hochul addresses reports of ICE "uptick" in NY
Hochul said she was monitoring reports of increased activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York, which have come in the wake of promises by a Trump administration official to send a surge of agents to the state. Several recent articles have described a possible uptick in arrests or sightings of federal officers in the Hudson Valley, the Albany area and New York City.
"I want to reassure you that we are keeping an eye on it," she said.
She noted several new ICE constraints New York codified in its budget in May, including a ban on formal cooperation pacts between ICE and local police agencies that were relatively rare in New York. The deadline for 12 police and sheriff's departments to end those contracts is in 13 days, Hochul pointed out, saying the state will take legal action against those that refuse.
The Trump administration has sued to overturn that ban and another budget provision that prohibited ICE agents from wearing masks on the job. A federal judge recently blocked the mask ban through a preliminary injunction that stays in place while the case wends its way through court.
ICE protester recalls getting sprayed
Also speaking at the press conference was Linda Wolff, a 72-year-old woman who says a federal agent sprayed her in the face with "bear mace" as she recorded an ICE operation in the Inwood section of Upper Manhattan in July.
She thanked Hochul and state lawmakers for a third piece of the state's new ICE response: a statute enabling residents to sue federal officers for violating their constitutional rights. Wolff has said she plans to use that new authority to bring a case against the agent who sprayed her.
"No one should have to face physical harm like I did, just for speaking out how I felt about them," Wolff said. "I was speaking out that day because I care about the safety of the people — my fellow New Yorkers — that are being snatched up off the street."
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY to fund over $7M for immigrant kids' legal bills after feds balk
