FY 2027 Preliminary Budget Hearing
Committee on Immigration · March 25, 2026 · 5hrs 33m
Source: https://hearinghearings.nyc/hearings/committee-on-immigration-fy27-preliminary-budget-hearing/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0

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(00:00:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=10s

New York City Council testimony.

(00:08:27) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=507s

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here today. I am CM Elsie Encarnación, chair of the Committee on Immigration. Welcome to today's hearing on the City's fiscal 2027 preliminary budget. Before we begin, I would like to thank those who have joined us and acknowledge that I am joined here by CM Schulman. Thank you.

For hundreds of years, immigration has and will continue to be a fundamental aspect of New York City life. Nearly 40% of our City's population is foreign born. This includes those who have had the opportunity to naturalize and become US citizens and those who have not. Immigrants play an essential role in our local economy and they have a similar workforce participation rate to US-born residents. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that in 2022, undocumented immigrants paid 96.7 billion in US taxes. In New York alone, undocumented immigrants paid 3.1 billion in taxes to fund our state's public infrastructure and services. The contribution for all of our immigrants totals a much higher revenue and it is no surprise to us that immigrants continue to power our City.

Our immigrant neighbors have also experienced grave need in recent years. In spring 2022, tens of thousands of asylum seekers, adults as well as families with children, fled dire conditions in their home countries and arrived to New York City. The City underwent a crisis response to support the influx of new arrivals. As the number of newcomers has steadied, the City has been reducing the emergency operations it created at this time. At the start of 2025, immigrant communities were met with a federal administration that aggressively prioritized a deportation agenda for both new and long-term immigrants. In 2025, New York City experienced an increase in ICE enforcement activities across immigrant neighborhoods, including a surge in ICE arrests at 26 Federal Plaza, targeting immigrant New Yorkers during check-ins and immigrant court proceedings. In January 2026, the Documented reported that street arrests in New York City grew by 212% to over 3,000 in the first six months of the Trump administration.

At today's hearing, the committee will examine the fiscal 2027 preliminary budget and evaluate how the budget prioritizes immigrant services and how the City intends to maintain and expand on last year's investments in immigrant programs. We will be asking the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs — you will hear me refer to them as MOYA — for accountability, transparency, and action. We will examine MOYA's collaboration with other city agencies and how that office carries out its roles and responsibilities. We will go over the various programs that MOYA manages, including the funding levels and number of individuals served, and we will get a better understanding of the new and emerging needs of our most vulnerable New Yorkers.

MOYA is the backbone of immigrant services in the City. However, this office is currently operating with an unacceptably low headcount. In the current preliminary plan, MOYA's budget totals $782,000 to cover five staff positions. MOYA's budget under the mayoralty does not provide a full picture as the office coordinates and collaborates with other city agencies to manage MOYA programs within their agencies and their budgets, including HRA, DYCD, H+H and others. How can we expect an office to meet our immigrant community's growing needs when it lacks sufficient centralized personnel to do the job? It is now more important than ever that we take the time to strengthen and expand our City's infrastructure to support immigrants for the years to come. As chair of the immigration committee, I am encouraging OMB and MOYA to work towards creating a dedicated city agency for immigrant affairs.

I also want to take the opportunity to say that the committee and I are looking forward to hearing from advocates and the community during today's public comment period. Given the limited time we have, I encourage you to please focus your oral testimony on the community and budgetary needs and know that we will review your written testimony to understand the full breadth of work your organization does after the hearing.

Lastly, I would like to thank the committee staff — the dream team here — Florentine Kabor, Na'vi Baines, Nicole Kata, Rebecca Baha, as well as my staff Stephanie Herrera and Adam Bernstein for their commitment and hard work. And as always, the amazing sergeant-at-arms that help us get through the day. Before we hear from Faiza Ali, the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and her team, the committee will swear you in.

(00:14:13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=853s

Good afternoon. Thank you to Chair Encarnación, members of the immigration committee, as well as chairs Lee and Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams, who I know are diligently across the street talking to our colleagues at OMB. I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to the Committee on Finance for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Faiza Ali and I am the new commissioner for the New York City Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, or MOYA. I am joined today by Lorena Lucero, deputy commissioner of program and policy, as well as my colleague Jaznia Sanchez, acting chief of staff and deputy commissioner of immigration and strategic initiatives. As a proud daughter of immigrants from Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, my intersecting identities have shaped how I think about the role of government and the responsibility it carries to serve every community in this City fairly and with dignity. As immigration and customs enforcement has sowed fear and chaos in diverse cities across the country, I want to make clear that New York City remains committed to the protection of all New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. But this moment requires more than words. It also requires local government to provide us with a budget, operational capacity, and support that help us meet this goal.

For today's testimony, I will provide a brief update on MOYA and highlight key areas of our work that include immigration legal services, the MOYA immigration legal support hotline, our rapid response legal collaborative, language access, and community engagement programs. We have all watched, some of us in shock or disbelief, as an aggressive and indiscriminate detention and deportation campaign played out on our screens. Over the last 14 months, we have seen the horrific reality of that agenda. Routine immigration court dates now often result in arrests by masked agents waiting outside of courtroom doors. Temporary protected status and other pathways for dignity and work authorization have been closed off without taking into account the dangerous conditions that precipitated the arrival of people to our country in the first place. ICE is being deployed to quell free speech, with its officers launching indiscriminate raids like those that targeted our street vendors on Canal Street just this past October. The color of someone's skin, the language that they speak, and the religion that they practice have been justifications for arrest and detainment. Our immigrant communities and local economies are suffering from these inhumane actions. Many of our neighbors worry about taking the subway to work or to school. The usually bustling streets of some of our most vibrant neighborhoods are eerily quiet.

Students in our public school system see the empty seats in their classrooms and worry whether or not they will be next.

Given this moment, immigrant communities need reassurances that city government will protect them. Mayor Mamdani was elected by New Yorkers in part to address the growing apprehension and anxiety among immigrants regarding their place in our society. It is our mission to affirm our City's support, to rebuild public trust and ensure continued access to schools, health care, housing, and city services. New York City is powered by immigrants. Through this year's city budget, we have the opportunity to show that we will protect and prioritize our immigrant communities by investing in services and the support that they deserve.

MOYA's City Charter mandate is to serve immigrants and non-English-speaking New Yorkers by developing and implementing policies designed to assist them, a responsibility we maintain and remain steadfast in fulfilling. My team, which is currently resourced with a budget of approximately $42.3 million for FY26, will continue to go above and beyond to elevate the needs of immigrant communities. We currently have more than 70 contracts with nonprofit organizations, many of whom are in this room today, that service immigrant communities throughout the City.

Given the recent rise in ICE activity, MOYA has stepped up to provide more investment in immigration legal services than ever before. Over the past year, MOYA has risen to the challenge to strengthen our legal infrastructure during this time of greatly increased need. MOYA's immigration legal programs include immigration legal support centers, the immigration legal support hotline, the MOYA legal technical mentorship program, and the rapid response legal collaborative. Together, these programs and initiatives expand access to immigration legal support, which has increasingly grown in demand. Last summer, we launched MOYA's immigration legal support centers, supported by more than $18 million in investments over three years, to support up to 25 community-rooted organizations providing culturally and linguistically responsive immigration legal assistance. Our immigration legal services infrastructure consists of 29 unique providers across five boroughs. Since the program's launch in July 2025, the network has conducted nearly 9,000 comprehensive legal screenings supporting immigrants on a variety of legal needs.

All MOYA centers program providers have free access to a nationwide legal technical assistance program through CLINIC, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network. The MOYA legal technical mentorship program also provides dedicated support to the legal services network. In FY26, the IGC, the Immigrant Justice Corps, is also offering additional legal technical support for legal support centers. Having access to multiple legal technical assistance programs and resources is important for immigration legal professionals to maintain their professional ethical duties, to be trained and to support the professional growth of their staff and volunteers in order to advance informed decision-making on advocacy and program operations. Providers are also connected to trainings and resources that allow them to respond appropriately to federal policy changes.

Another critical resource available to immigrant communities is the MOYA immigration legal support hotline, which is operated by Catholic Charities Community Services and helps New Yorkers explore their options through comprehensive immigration legal screenings. So far this year, the hotline has received over 14,700 calls. For FY26, MOYA increased funding to expand and strengthen the immigration legal support hotline to improve accessibility, responsiveness, and support for callers with increasingly complex immigration needs. The hotline expanded its staffing capacity, including the hiring of additional counselors and a staff member specifically designated to respond to time-sensitive rapid response needs. The hours of operation were also extended beyond the previous schedule of Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., so that callers have more opportunities to reach outside the standard network of hours. Additionally, MOYA made significant investments in language access and technology. The hotline launched WhatsApp communications, expanded reporting from four to 10 languages, and is currently adding three new interactive voice response language prompts, which are expected to be completed in the spring.

Finally, MOYA has made use of our rapid response legal collaborative, or the RRLC, which provides legal assistance to immigrant New Yorkers who are detained or at imminent risk of detention or deportation. To adjust for the current need, MOYA increased our investment in rapid response legal efforts by $3 million this fiscal year. MOYA has also coordinated rapid response efforts in schools to ensure immigrant families receive timely information and support when immigration enforcement activity occurs in or near their communities. This includes connecting schools, families, and community partners with legal resources, know your rights information, and direct services. Referrals are centralized through Project Open Arms, a dedicated team within the New York City public schools that coordinates across all schools, including charter schools, District 75, and District 79, to support immigrant families and ensure that families have a full range of services.

Next, I will provide an update on MOYA's language access network, an area where we have made significant strides. MOYA oversees, monitors, and provides technical assistance to over 46 city agencies in implementing language access services. This work goes far beyond immigrant affairs. It is a critical infrastructure that touches every corner of city services, impacting almost 1.8 million New Yorkers with limited English proficiency. As such, this is not simply a matter of checking a box or ensuring compliance, but an area where the City must take a whole-of-government approach to advancing language justice. In addition, MOYA has built an in-house language services team that provides language and interpretation support to mayoral offices and City Hall. In calendar year 2025, MOYA's language access team delivered translation services to 41 mayoral offices and agencies, provided on-site language support at migrant centers across the City, and played a critical role in rapidly translating evolving messaging on shelter protocols for recent arrivals.

I want to discuss next our English learning programs. Learning English continues to be a priority for immigrant communities and remains a key workforce development strategy. To increase the capacity for English language learning, MOYA operates English learning and support centers at public library branches and community centers located in immigrant-dense neighborhoods in FY26. So far, the program has served nearly 3,000 unique learners and has seen 800 graduates. These centers use our award-winning We Speak curriculum to host in-person English classes. Additionally, we have developed comprehensive beginner-level materials which have been frequently requested by communities and advocates. Our curriculum aims to improve access to both English language learning and familiarity with city services.

Finally, MOYA's community engagement work creates pathways for immigrants to navigate and access city services and to know their rights during this perilous time. Through our immigrant rights workshops, our team has made presentations that serve as additional entry points for community organizations and their clients to connect to free, high-quality immigration legal services. In fiscal year 2026, this program delivered nearly 300 presentations that reached nearly 6,000 people across the City, continuing our critical role to reach our diverse communities where they are. Additionally, in calendar year 2025, our external affairs team reached nearly 37,000 direct touch points through resource fairs, know your rights presentations, and canvassing over the past four years. Over the past four years, resources at MOYA's website were also downloaded over 142,000 times by nearly 79,000 users. In calendar year 2025, MOYA led 10 community and ethnic media roundtables to share vital information with our immigrant communities through hyperlocal newspapers and TV stations in their own languages. These roundtables further strengthen city government's relationships with immigrant-focused trusted media outlets that deliver accurate and timely news to New Yorkers.

Finally, I wish to thank the City's hard-working public servants who have responded to the needs of both recently arrived and long-standing immigrant New Yorkers. And thank you, of course, to our chair Encarnación, members of the Committee on Immigration and Finance for calling today's hearing. I look forward to working with the Council to fund and strengthen the programs that serve our immigrant communities, who are indeed the backbone of our City. Thank you.

(00:27:09) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=1629s

Thank you, Commissioner. I would like to acknowledge CM Gale Brewer for joining us and give the opportunity for our public advocate to say a few words.

(00:27:20) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=1640s

Thank you, Madam Chair. As mentioned, my name is Jamani Williams, Public Advocate of the City of New York. I would like to thank Chair Encarnación and Lee and the members of the committees for holding this important hearing. Chair Lee, it is always great to see you. It makes me smile, as well as having an administration that will actually let you do your job. So I am very excited about that.

New York City is home to more than 3 million immigrants — even more if you count sons and daughters of immigrants, and grandsons and granddaughters of immigrants, and grand siblings of immigrants. It is this diverse tapestry of people that makes our city so special. Immigrants are our friends and families, neighbors, our teachers and business owners, civil servants, and so much more. Right now, they are under an unprecedented attack on their civil and human rights, and each of us has a responsibility to protect them.

Similarly, the City's sanctuary laws are also under attack. New York City has had laws in place that limit how the City can interact with federal immigration enforcement since 1989, when Executive Order 124 was first enacted by then-Mayor Ed Koch. City agencies are prohibited from sharing information about immigrants with federal officials unless they are suspected of criminal activity. ICE is not allowed to arrest immigrants at courthouses or other state government facilities, and the NYPD and DOC are barred from honoring detainer requests from ICE except in some limited circumstances.

Our sanctuary laws do not shield criminals, as many claim. In fact, the City is allowed to honor detainer requests for individuals convicted of more than 170 different crimes, including rape and murder. Despite all of the fear-mongering about sanctuary cities, these laws make us all safer. These protections allow immigrants to report crime, serve as witnesses, and access schools and City services without fear. These large-scale immigration enforcement operations also divert resources away from initiatives that actually promote safety.

The focus on detaining people following immigration proceedings and check-ins has turned the immigration process — even for people who do it the right way — into a minefield. I personally witnessed federal agents seizing people as they exit their immigration hearings, and it is very devastating. It teaches people to fear appearing in court or attending check-ins, disincentivizing complying with the law and attending these hearings. With this danger at courthouses, it is more important than ever to robustly fund immigrant legal services.

Last year, Mayor Adams and the City Council nearly doubled the amount budgeted for legal services, including lawyers for unaccompanied minors who are often representing themselves, including preschool-age children. We must continue this commitment to legal services. I am glad to see that the preliminary budget increases funding for deportation defense, MOIA Legal Support Centers, and other legal services in FY2027 and future years.

MOIA also offers connections to a range of services for immigrant New Yorkers that are now more critical than ever, including English classes, mental and medical health care, food and housing assistance, and IDNYC cards. This is crucial in ensuring that immigrant New Yorkers can support themselves and their families and integrate into their new communities, as many have done before them. With many avenues for federal assistance cut off or too risky to apply for, City support can fill those gaps. A budget is a moral document. We have to step up where the federal government has stepped back. City agencies are for the people who live and work in New York.

(00:30:38) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=1838s

City not to serve dubiously legal, dangerous and wasteful immigration enforcement operations. Every person in our city and in our country has an inalienable human civil right. We cannot let the inhumanity of the president erode our own humanity. Now we are even more concerned with ICE agents at our airports trying to take over from TSA agents who have not been paid in a while. All this is only getting increasingly terrifying and I am hoping the city can do even more to address that fear. Thank you.

>> Thank you very much. Hello.

>> So we are going to go right into it. The preliminary plan includes about $780,000 for MOYA in fiscal 2027, mainly for the five positions that it houses, and this funding really has not changed nor has the headcount changed since we adopted the budget last year. We also know that additional staff located under several different agencies are dedicated to supporting MOYA. I am assuming that that is what you referred to when you talked about your organization being resourced by $42.3 million. So I wanted to get an idea of what exactly the titles and responsibilities are for the five positions that are shown in MOYA's budget. What they do, what are the positions and their responsibilities.

>> Yeah, thank you, Chair. So currently two of those five lines are active. They are being occupied — one is myself as commissioner for MOYA and the other is my director of communications. I am, to your question about staffing — I started a little bit less than a month ago and right now we are currently assessing our vacancies, the number of vacancies we have and the process to help backfill those to build support up for MOYA.

>> Okay. So two for now, a total of five.

>> There are five dedicated for MOYA. Correct.

>> And can you also describe the number of staff housed under other agencies? I know that is a big number, much bigger than the one you have, but maybe a general overview of their roles and responsibilities.

>> Yeah, that is a great question. Thank you, Chair. So there are 64 staff lines that MOYA utilizes across the city. 59 of those 64 are housed under other agencies. I am happy to follow up with you on the specifics. But to your question about the role that these staff play, these staff lines are used to support the day-to-day operations of MOYA — anywhere from administering programs to policy to administrative work in the office, language access and outreach. We are happy to follow up with more details as you need them.

>> Okay. And I am wondering — I know that this is something you are coming in and starting to fill those positions on — how will the workload be split among the staff that you do have under MOYA? Do you feel that that will be sufficient staff to efficiently fulfill your mission?

>> Yeah, so I am still evaluating the office structure. Like I mentioned, there are quite a number of vacancies that I would like to prioritize filling. The specifics right now in terms of the structure I do not have to share with you because I am evaluating and specifically looking at where staff are housed, whether it is in the outreach bucket or the policy bucket, and where staff can be moved to really strengthen the work. That process is still very much underway but the priority is to fill those vacancies as soon as possible.

>> And have you requested any additional funding for the headcount and the programs for this fiscal year or the out years?

>> Yeah. So we were very pleased to see some new funding — $6.1 million that was added in the preliminary budget as baseline funding. I know how much the Council values the word "baseline" — for MOYA, and that breakdown is $4.6 million for the rapid response funding and legal support centers and $1.5 million for MOYA English and support centers. So we know that this initial investment really represents a commitment from the mayor to support immigration legal services and to support immigrant communities, and we are in ongoing discussions with OMB on how we can deepen that further.

>> Okay. And will MOYA move to putting out multi-year contracts that preserve the option to implement funding that is responsive to emerging needs, considering the immigration landscape is constantly evolving? We held a roundtable not too long ago and a lot of the providers were talking about how much they need to be able to react to the things that are happening, and those things may not necessarily fall within the lines of a contract. The ability to shift is really important for them. So do you consider putting contracts like that out?

>> Yeah, we are in the process of engaging our contract providers. I would like to meet them just to better understand what their needs are. But to answer your question directly, I will turn it over to my colleague.

>> Okay. Now, thank you, Chair, for the question. As the commissioner mentioned, we are in the process of assessing where the gaps are and any additional needs. Now that we have this funding that has been baselined, it also allows us to plan medium-term and longer term and be more intentional about how this funding is allocated so that these allocations are more efficient. We are also working closely with our contracting agency, the Department of Social Services, to explore all of our options. Our goal is to ensure that there is continuity in services and to improve the delivery of those services. We are looking at all of our procurement options to be able to plan in the longer term.

>> Now, when you talk about planning, you are planning more with the agencies that you deal with. Do you do any planning with some of the community-based organizations that are doing the work on the ground?

>> So I will let the commissioner also chime in. But part of the process is engaging in conversation with the community-based organizations to understand and hear more about what is going on on the ground. Are there any new needs that are emerging that we might not be aware of? And to figure out how to address those things.

>> I will just add that we meet with our contract providers on a quarterly basis. So it is not just during budget time where we are asking the question of what are the exact needs on the ground and are those needs being met with the current contracts.

>> Great. And then, Commissioner, you have now had some time to review — not much time, but some time to review — the structure and the mission. What are some of your priority areas for fiscal 2027?

>> Yeah, so protecting and empowering immigrant New Yorkers is a defining commitment of this administration. As commissioner, I have been working to ensure both that we have a vision and the capacity to really deliver on some of those key priorities. I mentioned a few of them in my first hearing just a few weeks ago, but those priorities include ensuring immigrant New Yorkers know their rights and can access services safely. Those priorities also include coordinating across city government agencies to make sure that they are aligned and prepared to support the long-term stability of immigrant communities. Priorities also include integrating immigrant families into the city's larger affordability agenda, and that includes expanding benefits and creating workforce pathways and small business support.

I will just close with the thing that I care very deeply about as someone who comes from community: centering the lived experiences of the most impacted is what I believe drives really strong and effective policymaking. Our goal is to enhance our community engagement with not just our providers but the communities who are impacted the most.

>> I am glad to hear that. And speaking of centering the lived experience, I know that many of our immigrant families are experiencing a lot of mental health issues as a result of what they are experiencing from the federal government, including depression, PTSD, substance abuse, anxiety and so much more. How do you see MOYA engaging with families facing those mental health issues? Are there any specific programs, outreach or engagement tools that you may be using to inform immigrants about mental health services?

>> Yeah, thank you, Chair. MOYA has recently been in touch with the Office of Community Mental Health, the GBV office and the academy. These are partners that we work very closely with to really better understand the landscape of resources that are available for immigrant New Yorkers. That work is ongoing and we really look forward to identifying ways that we can help bridge that gap and support mental health. I will highlight just a few things that we are currently exploring and working on. Specifically, working with the hotline to incorporate our learning into the scripts wherever there may be a gap, identifying more collaboration between MOYA, the Office of Community Mental Health, the GBV office and really the stakeholder organizations outside, and then finally developing new and uplifting existing resources for immigrant New Yorkers in partnership with the partners I have mentioned.

>> Do you use any ethnic media for ad campaigns and things like that? Can you speak a little bit about that?

>> So MOYA hosts monthly ethnic media roundtables on a variety of topics. We hosted 10 ethnic media roundtables last year and one was dedicated to mental health. We have also included other topics around back to school and labor rights. So it is quite a variety. We have two upcoming roundtables as well. So I am really proud of the work that our team does to really engage the ethnic media community.

>> And I am also assuming that some people will rely on NYC Care for health coverage in the near future. Should someone enroll in NYC Care, what options exist for mental health services there, if you are aware?

>> Yeah. So NYC Care offers several services including high-quality mental health and substance abuse services. They also offer a primary care provider and so that provider can refer individuals to appropriate resources, which can include a social worker, a therapist or a psychiatrist. That includes in-person screenings as well as virtual health and mental health services. As MOYA, I have said this previously as well — we continue to encourage New Yorkers to enroll in NYC Care. All city residents are welcome to apply regardless of immigration status. We also provide NYC Care flyers at our outreach events that are translated into a variety of languages. We include information in our English language classes. So there are quite a few ways that we actually promote NYC Care and encourage participation.

>> Perfect. And shifting gears but kind of staying in line with that — can you talk a little bit about MOYA's partnership with H+H and how both entities ensure that immigrants are not afraid to seek care?

>> MOYA and H+H maintain routine communications and in the past we have collaborated on providing policy updates to their teams. Last year our office worked with H+H and DOH to publish an open letter to immigrant New Yorkers really emphasizing the need for them to seek care and explaining the various options that are available to them regardless of status. So we have a good working relationship with H+H. H+H also, like many other agencies, sits on MOYA's interagency task force on immigration. That is routinely where we share best practices, changes to policies and things that impact immigrant New Yorkers.

>> Okay. I know that the reality is that I really want to make sure that they are being aggressive about those campaigns because unfortunately the truth of the matter is that we cannot afford for folks to only be using those services as emergency services. We want them to be using them as preventive services and preventive health care. So I am really hoping that that is a part of the conversation and that we are really getting in front of it.

Also, federal public housing requires at least one household member to have an eligible immigration status. However, on February 20th, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would require immigration verification for everyone living in HUD-assisted housing, which will harm mixed-status families. Can you talk a little bit about what steps MOYA has taken to collaborate with NYCHA? We just had our NYCHA hearing yesterday. I asked this question of NYCHA and while they seem empathetic, they are fully funded by the federal government and so it is quite a cause for pause. So can you talk a little bit about your collaboration with NYCHA?

>> Yeah, and specifically as it relates to this proposed change, MOYA is working with NYCHA and other agencies to submit a public comment in response to the proposed change. I will add again that NYCHA also sits on MOYA's interagency task force. So we look forward to continuing to engage them on how we respond to this potential change.

>> Okay. Yeah, I would love to see some regular policy updates, making sure that they are aware of that process and also for them to do maybe a visual campaign. I have 23 NYCHA developments in my district and I would know if there was one. Very, very clearly.

So I know that 311 is also one of the main ways residents report issues, ask questions about city programming and get help accessing city services. What is your partnership with 311?

>> Yeah, we have a great working relationship with 311. We coordinate with them on calls related to immigration. Calls that are made to 311 are either routed to our legal services hotline that is run by Catholic Charities or they are routed to the general MOYA hotline. We engage with 311 on an as-needed basis as well, just to address any trends that we may be seeing. Both MOYA's hotline and our legal services hotline also keep track of calls that are coming in. They can actually track those calls and can identify when someone has called from 311 as well.

>> And if I may, Chair, one thing I would also just add to what the commissioner laid out — we have been very intentional about meeting with them and providing them up-to-date policy changes. So when our website was updated with resources, we ensured to walk them through that. We have continuously relied on them for best practices and guidance even for our own MOYA legal support hotline. They have also flagged, as the commissioner mentioned, spikes on specific issues. They report them to us and we work with them to identify where to go with things like that.

>> Yeah, I have been seeing an influx of reports of housing conditions as one of the main issues that people are really afraid to mention due to their status. They are living in really deplorable conditions because of it. So I just want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to track those 311 calls, especially when it is heat and hot water related, because there may be underlying issues that are not specifically talked about as immigration-related issues but could definitely be a part of it.

I am going to go to one last topic before I open up to my colleagues who are here. I wanted to talk a little bit about immigrant survivors of domestic violence. Between 34 to 50% of immigrant women in the US have experienced domestic violence. This figure increases to 77% for immigrant women whose immigrant status is dependent upon their spouse. They have really experienced gender-based violence at extremely high rates. Given that survivors of gender-based violence are an incredibly vulnerable subset of the immigrant population, how do you prioritize supporting that specific demographic?

>> Thank you, Chair. In my last hearing, and I think I mentioned this up top as well, one of my current priorities is to really increase our policy team's capacity to expand the reach of our efforts. Our office is a member of the Brooklyn Human Trafficking Task Force and so through this we are engaging with other city and state stakeholders around servicing this population. We are also in close communication with the mayor's office to end gender-based violence on a variety of topics, and we are actively looking for ways to expand work with specifically this population as well. I would also like to add the LGBTQIA+ community as well.

>> Can you give me a little bit about what you have worked on there?

>> Yeah, so we are very excited to work with Director Taylor Brown of the new mayor's Office of LGBTQIA Affairs. This is another area, Chair, that we are hoping to really increase our work and explore more partnership.

>> I encourage that.

>> If I may add, Commissioner — there was also a local law that was passed last year, I am forgetting the number, but MOYA is also working in consultation with OEJ to conduct an assessment right now in regards to resources and gaps for transgender, non-conforming and non-binary folks. So that is work that is ongoing right now. I would also say that with the new rollout of the legal support centers, there are also providers there that are increasing touch points with folks who self-identify. That is another area that we are also exploring and working on.

>> That is great. So I am going to pause there to give my colleagues an opportunity, but I will be back. CM Schulman.

>> Thank you very much. I just want to say it is really nice to see the commissioner here and I could not think of anybody better to fill that role. So congratulations and I look forward to working with you. So a couple of questions I have. One is there was a report recently about task forces in the different agencies around the sanctuary city law. Is that new staff? Is there extra money for that? I am just curious how that is going to work.

>> Yeah. I believe you are referring to the interagency response committee that came from the executive order signed by the mayor, Executive Order 13. That task force is a combination of both the first deputy mayor's office, the special chief counsel's office — MOYA has a leadership role at the table as well. In terms of staffing, I believe that is outside of MOYA but is something that the special adviser to the first deputy mayor is currently working on. I will say that we are in close communication and working very collaboratively with our partners on the IRC.

>> When it is finalized, if you can get us that information, that would be great. Also, I know you talked about having a communications director and I know you talked about earned media. Do you have any paid media that you do?

>> Yeah. So we are currently exploring a know-your-rights campaign that will include a combination of both paid and unpaid ads that will be dispersed throughout the city.

>> So the question I have — as you know, ICE has been deployed to the city's airports as part of the TSA issue. The problem is, my understanding is that the airports are kind of exempt from the sanctuary city law. Is that correct? And the reason I am asking is, is there any kind of campaign or thought about identifying people that would be traveling or potentially traveling, so that we could also make sure that they know their rights? Because today there was a woman that was picked out by TSA, pointed out to ICE agents — not here, in San Francisco — and arrested and sent back to Guatemala with her little kid.

>> So our sanctuary city laws are limited to city agencies and how we cooperate with immigration enforcement and the limitations around that. I will say that we are concerned with the reports that we are hearing of ICE agents that have been confirmed at airports. In fact, MOYA did release an advisory just yesterday to inform travelers on what to expect and to provide tips on how to travel safely if they are at the airports.

(00:53:58) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=3238s

And I would like to see community based organizations that know about some of these people who were traveling or having plans to or whatever, because we do not want people to fall through the cracks.

No, we agree. We pushed out our advisory both on our social media channels, but also to our contracted providers through a newsletter announcement that went out to ensure that CBOs who are working with these vulnerable communities have the information that they need, because especially at LaGuardia Airport, which is basically the airport we are talking about, and JFK, there is a ton of immigrants that go through all the time. With that, I am done. Thank you very much, Commissioner. Thank you.

Thank you. Really quickly, the media advisory that was put out — what languages was that put out in?

Do you know?

We can get that for you.

Yeah, we can get that for you. Yes.

I am going to have a lot of questions about which languages.

Okay, that is...

I would like to now recognize CM Brewer.

Thank you very much and congratulations. So, a couple of things. When we were across the street, the budget commissioner stated, when asked about which agencies are working on immigration because people are concerned, he pointed to you and said that you are coordinating it all. How was that happening? He then went to the next question.

I have a...

So my question to you is, is it through the task forces? Is it through the 64 people? How do you keep all the agencies that are working on this focused on the issues that are so important?

Yeah, CM, thank you for that question. It is a tall task for a 5'2" woman. It is a challenge. But I will say that we accomplished all this work really... the unsung heroes are the staff and the team at MOYA who have been here working diligently, long hours, 24 hours a day, working with our contracted providers. So I want to first and foremost acknowledge the team at MOYA, and I am happy to be joined by many of them here. It is our contracted providers — these are folks that we contract, organizations, CBOs who come from these communities, who service these communities, that really do and provide the important work of whether it is legal services, language services. It takes quite literally a village.

Okay. But I think I agree with that. But I think he was talking about the other agencies. So that is also part of what you are talking about.

I can give you — you all know it — Department of Education, Department of Health, the list goes on.

Right. We mentioned there are a few different avenues where we work with other agencies. The inter-agency task force is one where we have partnerships across the board. We provide policy updates, we share best practices — that is one avenue. Then we have individual projects. I will turn it over to my colleague to talk about some of the partnerships that we have with the DOE.

Thank you, Commissioner. We mentioned this briefly in the last hearing as well, but we are working with the Department of Education and we incorporated one of our programs into the school. So we are working with them on the rapid response collaborative in schools, and what it is is a dedicated touch point for students, parents and immediate family members who might live with said student to access legal services. We work with Project Open Arms, which is a dedicated team at the Department of Education.

I am familiar with them. We would like the commissioner to come to District 3 — April 15th or May 13th. Open Arms District 3, largest one. Keep going. Sorry.

No. Just to talk a little bit about the model and the work that we are doing, there is a centralized touch point to connect people to services if they are at imminent risk of detention or if they were detained. In addition to that, we have also created programs for know your rights that are dedicated to three groups of people: directly to students who might be impacted — so you can think about some young people ages 16 to 20 who might be in school — a second set of know your rights training for parents, and then a third subset for educators, parent coordinators and the such. That is work that has been ongoing and I would say pretty successful.

The reason I bring it up is I go to all the budget hearings and I pick up pieces. So Learning to Work is an example at District 79. I happen to live with a whole bunch of these migrants and asylum seekers in my district. So I am familiar with all the programs, and one of them apparently might be cut, which is so helpful to your population. Number two, at the small business hearing, we asked because the federal government has cut funding so that any immigrant small business owner cannot get federal money. That is half of the small businesses in the City of New York. So the City is going to try through their small business funds to come up with money. But I am just saying every single agency is impacted by this situation with the president. So that is why I am talking about coordination. I do not know — that is something that you are working on. I assume you are.

Yeah, that is something that we are working on with our agency partners as well as our partners at OMB.

Okay. And then just finally, adult literacy — that is important for everybody. It does not have to be just this community, but my understanding is the Coalition for Adult Literacy presented a proposal to DYCD for $20 million for more funding. I think there is $12 million in the FY27. So that would be an example that I hope you would advocate for this funding with this administration, with OMB. The reason I say this is these classes are already oversubscribed, and I have to say from my experience, adult literacy is the number one issue if you are going to get through the GED, which is what my constituents are trying to do, and if you are also trying to just get a job. So how are we dealing with adult literacy?

Yeah, CM, I am not familiar with the exact proposal, but we are happy to review that and circle back with advocates.

Okay. I think the issue is you are involved unfortunately with everything in terms of these agencies.

We touch a little bit of everything. We have good partners at agencies who are ready to do the work.

Okay. And if I can add really quickly with regards to adult literacy, as part of the preliminary budget, we now have an additional $1.5 million that was baselined for our English classes. So that will also allow us to continue programming. We currently are collaborating with all three library systems in the City. So we have ongoing classes all throughout the five boroughs in multiple library branches in immigrant-dense communities.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. I guess just to piggyback off of CM Brewer, I am trying to figure out if there is a mechanism by which you track all of the agencies that you do have contracts with. So not just through meeting and touching base, but how are we necessarily tracking what they are doing, what they are working on, when they are working on it, if they have accomplished the mission, who they are contracting with — is all of that funneled through that inter-agency conversation or is there some kind of mechanism by which that is tracked?

Yeah, I can walk you through some of the work that we have been doing on the legal services side, and I think this is really a lessons-learned from the last couple of years in regards to new arrivals coming in and really trying to figure out and hone in on how we centralize and streamline services. So we have regular meetings and communication with other agencies that provide immigration legal services. For example, the Department of Social Services, NGPV, DYCD — and I think I always miss one — but we touch base in regards to our new programming so they are aware of what we are doing. We are in close communication if there is an RFP that maybe one agency might be thinking about or putting out, on lessons learned and target areas and neighborhoods that we are working with. So that is very intentional and happens frequently on the legal services provider side.

On the English language learning side, we also connect with DYCD, but it is more based on pedagogy and best practices to incorporate into our services as well. So those are two examples that I can share with you now.

Just briefly to add on the administrative and contracting piece — our contracting agency is the Department of Social Services, and that is also where the bulk of the immigration legal services live under HRA. So we have a working relationship with that agency. We do work very closely with those teams as well, not only on the programmatic side but also taking a look at contracts across the board.

Okay. Thank you. So the preliminary plan — and now we are going to switch over to legal services, which we just spoke about — includes new funding, which we are very excited to see: $6.7 million in fiscal 26, $21.3 million in fiscal 27, $20.9 million in fiscal 28, $19.2 million in fiscal 29. What exactly will this additional funding be used for?

So we are very excited about that additional funding. I do not have the breakdown for all of that funding for legal services specifically for MOYA. What that means is that we now have an additional $14.6 million that was baselined, and that is to continue funding for our legal support centers as well as additional funding for our rapid response legal collaborative program. Specifically, we are still in the process of finalizing what allocation looks like for next fiscal year. Like I mentioned earlier, we are highly focused on ensuring that there is continuity of services and also in the medium to long term working on efficiencies to be able to allocate funding more efficiently.

Are you looking to create new programs at all?

We are still in the process of evaluating all of that.

Okay. And so given that the funding is baselined, will there be new RFPs that go out for any of these new programs? Is that the plan?

I mean, we are still looking at all of our options. This funding just got baselined. Right now, most immediately, we want continuity of services. But again, nothing is off the table as we finalize planning for the medium and longer term.

Okay. And so now I am going to switch a little to start talking about our City's sanctuary policies. It is something that we had our first hearing on. We will continue to talk about it. There will continue to be legislation about it. On February 6, the mayor issued Executive Order 13 to strengthen the City's sanctuary protections, primarily barring ICE agents from entering City-owned properties without a judicial warrant. Can you provide an update on the inter-agency response committee that was established pursuant to that executive order?

Chair, before I get to that question, I want to go back to your question around languages for the advisory. So far the English version is being translated into the top 10 languages, and we will also include Hindi and Punjabi, and those are expected to go up as soon as possible.

To your question on the inter-agency response committee: it is a crisis response body that coordinates and manages policy responses across City agencies during a crisis — any crisis, but also including escalating federal immigration action. The members of the committee, as I have stated before, are the first deputy mayor, who is serving as chair, the chief counsel, the special adviser for strategic coordination and operations for the first deputy mayor, and myself. As MOYA's commissioner, I am serving in a leadership capacity at the IRC and we are working really closely with this team.

And how often does it meet? Is it quarterly as well?

The inter-agency response committee right now is actively in communication and working in coordination with City agencies to meet some of the earlier deadlines. I know that a focus has been largely placed on the May 7th deadline for the audit. So we know that that work has begun. The IRC is also beginning to meet with stakeholders actually this week. So that work has commenced.

Okay. I am going to take a pause to acknowledge my colleague, CM Joseph, and she will ask you some questions.

Oh, wow. I like that. Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Commissioner, always great to see you. Thank you for being here. On the record, I also want to thank the administration for the great partnership we did on the TPS video done by the mayor. I thank him for that.

We want to talk about HRI. I know it was baselined. We want to find out — are there going to be any expansion or are there going to be other Haitian-led organizations? As you may know, TPS is currently now in the Supreme Court.

I think you mentioned HRI, the Haitian Response Initiative. We are currently part of what the commissioner laid out a little bit earlier — we are currently assessing all programs to see where the new funding that we received will be allocated. So that is part of the assessment as well with HRI.

Okay. How many organizations do you currently have in the HRI system?

Give me one second, I am just finding my page. We have one, two, three, four, five, six... we have eight. So it is seven CBOs and then Catholic Charities that provides legal services.

Okay. The preliminary plan included $1.6 million in fiscal 2026 for HRI. For fiscal 2026, the Council added an additional $600,000 in discretionary funding to further support six Haitian-serving nonprofit organizations. Can you provide an update on this program, including the number of people served in 2025?

So for the Council's additional funding, I do not have that number. For the program that we oversee in FY26, 333 individuals have been screened and 120 cases have been filed.

And what is the projected budget for the Haitian Response Initiative in 2027?

It has been baselined as of this fiscal year at $1.6 million.

Have the needs of the Haitian community shifted or evolved in the past year? We know it has. I have done videos. I have been outside rallying and doing press conferences as 350,000 lives are looming because now we are waiting for a decision. Any other plans to support the community and helping maybe change some of their statuses?

Yeah, that is a great question and something we have been thinking a lot about. Part of what we have done to tackle some of the issues, particularly with the looming or potential end of TPS, is that we have shifted some of the services. Currently what we are doing — well, one, we are bringing clinics into the neighborhood. During FY26 we made that change where they are coming into the CBOs directly, as well as supporting individuals who might be having a check-in or having to go to court for their asylum appointment. What is happening now is that people are being supported, trained, and having their applications reviewed, and being walked through the types of questions that are being prepared. We are also currently working on providing resources. We know that with TPS looming there are a lot of issues that have come up regarding housing, work and things like that. So there are resources that we are currently producing and putting together for that community as well.

Even in terms of guardianship as well as children who were born here and parents who may have to leave and all of that. I know I hosted a session in a neighboring district on that.

Yes. Generally we have standby guardianship information for the general public on our website. In addition to what we do with the HRI collaborative, part of it is also training. So we also have Catholic Charities come in and provide updates, which are really a reflection of the most common themes and issues that the organizations are facing, and that was one of them as well.

Thank you. I also wanted to ask — I know you know this — around young people. One of the things we did in this last year's budget is support unaccompanied minors. Is that going to continue and how many young people have you seen in that program?

So in regards to whether there will be programming changes, we are still identifying gaps and needs. I do have a number for you but I am just looking for it in my binder, in regards to the work — and really thanks to the Council too for providing funding.

Be steadfast on that.

That is right. We are very thankful. If you can give me a minute, I will get...

Yeah, no problem. No problem. Meanwhile, I can ask another question. Chair, is it okay? Thank you. The Council also funded Literacy Assistance Centers and I Care for both CBOs to coordinate and provide technical assistance to providers funded under the Adult Literacy Forward initiative, and those fundings under the SIJS unaccompanied minors and family initiative, which totals $733,000 in fiscal 2026 for these programs. Can you provide details about the use of that funding and what do these programs' mentorship assistance and coordination entail, and what is the goal of the funding?

For that we are going to have to circle back because we do not manage those programs, so we do not have specifics, but we are happy to look into that and follow up for details.

You will work with the other agency to make sure...

Yes.

Okay. Is the amount of funding that we provided for The Door to support young people — whether they are in foster care, whether they are unaccompanied minors, or whether they are asylum seekers — enough to support the young people that we have? As you can see, Dylan after 10 months is out now. So we want to continue to support young people, as we are reading reports that immigration has become the most dangerous thing to young people in this City.

Yeah, as part of our process between preliminary and the executive, we actually evaluate some of these programs and see where the gaps and opportunities are and work with our partners in OMB to address some of those needs.

And are there any other agencies that we are doing inter-agency work with? I think other agencies should be talking — like New York City public schools, DYCD. There should be inter-agency conversation about a comprehensive plan for our young people in this City.

I can jump in here. We are in active conversations with DYCD, ACS and the Department of Education on issues regarding youth. To give you the number because I found it — as you talked about, it is the funding that came in from the City Council, and we do not have clear oversight on that and those numbers — but I can share that in regards to numbers, we supported the transition of the asylum application help center and young people that were supported there. There was a list of about 200 youth who needed continued legal services, and ultimately 69 youth were assisted with SIJ applications. That number is what it is because we also had to get consent from young people to actually follow up. I just wanted to share that number. One more thing because the team is pinging me — we are also working on putting together a family preparedness phone bank that is happening this month, in collaboration with Catholic Charities, actually next month.

Well, thank you very much for this. Chair, thank you so much.

Of course. Thank you. I know that a lot of the conversation has been around those inter-agency conversations and task force conversations. Is there a quality check that MOYA does to see that that information has trickled down to the people that are on the ground and that those conversations...

(01:17:01) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=4621s

And the things that those agencies have said that they are going to give information on — that that is actually reaching the people that are facing our immigrant communities.

Yeah. Outside of our quarterly meetings for the inter-agency task forces, our team is in regular communications. I will say that I will uplift one team in particular: our language access folks are in constant communication, whether it is DYCD, DOE... we had a strong meeting and conversations with our partners at NISUM, just to ensure that these are not just sort of one-off meetings or translations that happen, but that language access is actually embedded in the work that they do. So I feel confident in those conversations. They happen outside of not just within the task forces, but they happen on a regular basis outside as well.

All right, great. And so when — and back to the sanctuary city laws — I was wondering if there were any recommendations that MOYA is providing to the city agencies to ensure compliance with the sanctuary policies, and if you can talk a little bit about what that time frame is looking like to conduct trainings that are related to executive order 13 across all of the relevant agencies.

Yeah. One thing I think is really important to kind of restate and be unequivocal about is that this administration is in fact committed to ensuring that no city agencies are cooperating with ICE in ways that violate our laws. I want to put that on the record. And that commitment, we know, is not just in words but it was codified in the executive order that lays out very clear accountability measures for agencies. To the question about trainings, what we are really hoping to uncover through the audits is a better understanding of what the training capacity right now looks like. We imagine that there will be some gaps. We are looking forward to evaluating those, and in terms of timeline, agencies do have up until — I believe it is May 7th — to submit those reports. So we are hoping to evaluate those and put out recommendations. Transparency is really important, and so the recommendations will be posted on our website.

So you anticipate that all city agencies will be trained to some degree even with the gaps that exist, or are you assessing the gaps to see which ones will and will not?

Yeah. We are planning to assess the gaps first and then move forward with our series of recommendations. But there is a commitment for sure to make sure all city agencies are trained and know exactly how to interact with the public, how to interact with agencies, and know their responsibilities under the sanctuary city law.

And can you describe a little bit about your model for rapid response outreach? I know you spoke about it a bit, but maybe talk a little bit more in depth about the model for rapid response.

Yeah, it is really twofold. I will start with looking in-house within MOYA. One of the things that I really would like to see reflected in some of the changes within MOYA is a more robust rapid response capacity. That means building stronger systems. That means faster coordination with our legal service providers and also training some of our own staff. We have a number of — I believe it is 10 — community liaisons right now that I really would like to see trained as organizers who can go out into the community should there be a need, and work with our partners on the ground. We also have a dedicated team that is providing information to the community through our external affairs and community engagement work. These folks are out, they are tabling, they are conducting really important know-your-rights trainings and working really closely with our partners. So that is sort of on the in-house side.

Externally, the great work of our providers is — I think — cannot be overstated. The folks who manage our rapid response legal support hotline, the rapid response legal support centers, and our hotline as well. I mentioned this in our testimony: the staffing capacity has expanded and there is a dedicated person specifically for any rapid response concerns that may arise. So it is an all-of-the-above approach to rapid response.

Thank you for that. I mean, I think that is one of the things — like even on the ground in my community, there are many, many community members that want to get involved and sometimes are forming their own rapid response networks. It is very difficult for them to get proper education and make sure that they are doing things correctly so that we are not chasing our tails in a moment of extreme need. So I am really hoping that we can make sure that any community member that wants to be a part of this can know where to go and get those resources.

How does the administration propose delivering services to detained and non-detained immigrants facing deportation?

So when cases are flagged to MOYA, whether it is through the hotline, through direct interaction with constituents, or we actually get oftentimes referrals from Council members and other elected officials, we connect those individuals to our legal service providers based on the specifics of their case. If a constituent reaches a general MOYA staffer, then that staffer also connects them to our program team. So we have a tree within MOYA to evaluate the case and make the referrals appropriately.

And have you found any need for additional resources? How much of an expansion do you think it would take to adequately meet the needs for legal services?

Yeah, I will say this: there is always a need to fund and support more organizations doing really critical work. Historically, many of these programs that support immigrant communities have been funded through one shots or one year at a time in the adopted budget. But seeing a new commitment from this administration in the preliminary $32 million overall to support or expand services is very promising. We are very grateful for that investment. We know that in the long term there is a long-term commitment to immigrant legal services, that these are unprecedented levels of need. That is something that we are constantly sharing and flagging for our colleagues at the mayor's office as well as OMB.

Okay, great. I am going to pause. My colleague has thought of another question, so I am going to give her an opportunity to...

We are taking a commercial break. Back to me. When I spoke about the MOYA technical mentorship assistance and central coordination — that is your program — and I know that you are outsourcing through IDP and IARC. I wanted to know what type of work or coordination will you be doing with these vendors.

Yeah. You are correct. I think we were responding to the IARE program. So for LTM, we introduced a legal technical assistance model in FY26. It provides individualized legal assistance to our support centers that are part of three-year contracts. So you are correct. Teacher Rita is always keeping me in order. That I is our lead provider. They focus training on really emerging issues including habeas corpus trainings. They are really responding to whatever needs come up in that current moment. We also have another legal technical assistance program called LTA — big fans of acronyms — that really expands also on the immigration legal training, resources and technical support for MOYA-funded organizations.

Thank you.

Gotcha. So, you know, one of the things that we are uncovering and that is becoming so real is this fear of asking for help, which is a really big issue, and it is critical for these services to get to folks. In November of 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security proposed a new rule to make accessing public benefits harder for immigrants by giving officers more discretion and potentially expanding the factors or benefits considered a public charge. Are you collaborating with DHS on developing guidance around potential changes in the public charge policy?

Thank you, Chair, for that question. We are in fact working with partners at DSS, at DOH and at NYC Health to develop an updated flyer with information that is also available on our website. This same coalition of agencies and partners was also in close communication with our legal service providers earlier this year regarding three different instances of public charge that came up in naturalization cases. We are also working with DSS and DOH to submit a public comment in response to this rule change.

And you know, I am going to ask about the languages for those flyers.

We are going to ensure that at the very least they are translated in the top 10 languages, and then we will assess other languages as needed.

Yeah.

And now that I know this is important to you, I will make sure you get that information.

It is. I mean, you know, as we face our constituents every day and with all of the changes, all of the misinformation, we need a trusted, reliable source that is going to give them the most up-to-date information as possible — that they know they are getting that information from a trusted source and that they are not fearful of seeking that help because they understand that it is a trusted source.

Absolutely. So last month, the New York Attorney General announced that they are launching a new initiative called the Legal Observation Project, to monitor federal immigration enforcement activity in the state for potential legal violations. Are you working with the Attorney General's office or been in contact with them about the rollout of this initiative?

Yeah, we are. MOYA is supportive of efforts to monitor federal immigration enforcement activity for potential legal violations and really welcomes the collaboration with the AG's office. We are in touch with the AG on other matters. On this in particular, we do not have much to report.

Sorry, I have to get some water in. I want to now touch a little bit on the closure of the migrant shelter and mail processing center. The Office of Asylum Seeker Operations was created in March 2023, and that was a response to the influx of migrants in New York City. Can you provide an update on MOYA's current involvement with the asylum seeker response and how the City's response and support has changed in this past year?

So MOYA has always served all immigrants, both recent arrivals and long-term residents, regardless of which office or agency is running that given program. We continue to work with DSS and DHS to share timely updates and are providing front-facing material for their clients. So OASO's responsibility was shifted to MOYA and DHS.

I can jump in here. I would say that as the commissioner laid out, MOYA has always been central — and this is sort of a central theme of today's hearing — in regards to many responses that impact immigrants. I would say that when OASO was closing, we worked collaboratively with them to ensure that there were access points for subset populations for legal services. The example that I spoke about a little bit before in regards to young people who were identified as potentially SIJS-eligible is a group of individuals that we worked with to ensure that services continue to be provided as OASO was closing down — or the asylum application help center in particular, because that is where we had more of a role. We ensured that folks who were being served by them had access points to legal services.

Now, the last remaining shelter for migrants is planned to close by the end of 2026. This will result in roughly 2,000-plus people being dispersed throughout the DHS system. How is the administration ensuring that the immigrants affected by shelter closures receive timely and clear information in their preferred language about their options?

So we have been working with DSS and DHS on language access issues in particular at Brookner, and continue to work with them as the need changes.

And we also learned that the administration is closing the centralized mail center for asylum seekers, which is located in the migrant shelter in the South Bronx, which is in my district. The mail center is scheduled to close at the end of this month in March. Do you know if the administration has a solution on how people will continue to receive important immigration court documents? As you know, this is very important, especially for those who have used that address and are waiting for mail.

So as individuals are reintegrated into DHS, they will receive mail at their assigned sites. We also understand through DHS that they have been communicating with impacted individuals about mail forwarding. On the exact details, we would defer to DHS for the most current information.

Okay. This is why we need one agency so that we can get these answers. I am going to keep... so we are going to switch gears a little bit and talk about advancing immigrant worker protections. I know that we will be talking about this a lot next month as well. But obviously many of our immigrant workers face exploitation and unsafe working conditions, and that is very often compounded by fear related to their immigration status. Last year the state Department of Labor created the New York State Bank of online resources designed to connect job seekers with employment opportunities. So my question here is: how are immigrants informed about their rights at work? How is this disseminated? Are there costs associated with these measures?

Sorry, this is in regards to the New York State Bank?

Sorry.

I read ahead. Excuse me.

It is all right.

I am going to get back. Just put that question in the pocket. The question around the state bank was MOYA's usage of the New York State Bank, if any, and whether it has shared it as a resource to any of the members of the community.

I think on that question we are going to have to circle back.

Gotcha. All right. So now I am going to my second one, which you have heard. How are immigrants informed about their rights at work, and how is that information disseminated? Are there any costs — more importantly — with those languages other than English?

Yeah, so MOYA is working really closely with Deputy Mayor Sue and her team to really further integrate MOYA into the economic justice portfolio, which we are very excited about. We are looking to explore opportunities and expand collaboration with some of the other agencies in that same vertical, including DCWP, SBS and DOB. One of my priorities, as I have mentioned earlier a few times, is really to bolster the work of our outreach team. We really look forward to working with our partners at the Office of Mass Engagement and other agencies to really best determine how we conduct outreach to this particular population.

Yeah, I think we will learn, especially next month, about the impact that has on our small businesses, on our business communities, our commercial corridors, and what we are really seeing out on the streets. I am going to take a pause to recognize CM Krishnan. Do you have questions?

No, not right now.

All right. He is thinking on it. So, question: how does MOYA's budget prioritize workforce development programs for immigrant communities?

So currently MOYA's program focuses on immigration legal services, know-your-rights, English classes and other support services. Under this new administration and new MOYA, I think being part of that economic justice portfolio is something that we are currently still assessing and figuring out ways to actually integrate throughout the office and through the existing programs. With respect to your specific question on funding, no specific funding was allocated to MOYA for this particular purpose, but we are continuing to assess our programming and initiative needs to identify some of these gaps.

Okay. So there may be a funding request in the future for this if you see that this is something that is necessary. So for English language learning and support centers, how successful has that program been in terms of attracting new participants, and what criteria is being used to measure that success?

Okay, so on English language learners, I want to make sure we have the right numbers for you. We have had in FY26 so far 2,830 unique learners and about 750 graduates. Through this program we have delivered 73 classes across three of the library systems, reaching about 1,700 unique learners and 576 graduates. The in-house We Speak program that MOYA runs has also delivered 23 classes across Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Brooklyn to reach 382 unique learners and 174 graduates.

And so the outcomes and the impacts — they are being tracked by graduates. Are there any other measures in that program that you track to signal success?

Yes. So per quarter we are keeping track of unique learner numbers, but we are also keeping track of regularity of attendance, certificate eligibility — all of that is really tracked to assess the neighborhood or the branch, what their needs are and the applicability of services. In addition to attendance numbers, facilitator observations and curriculum packets also include a survey. So we get a multilingual learner survey where individuals can self-report on demographic information like country of origin, borough of residence, time learning English and any other feedback that they have. So the survey is another way for us to capture that information.

And does that survey — because obviously there are less than half that have graduated of those who came in — does it speak to some of the barriers that they may find in going to the program, attending it and completing it?

Yeah. So to what the commissioner laid out, I think there are really three key components of the work and how we track. It is the unique learners, the attendance and the graduates. Also, understanding how this program might be different from your more traditional adult literacy class is that this is really the first time that learners might be open to even speaking another language and an entry point to further services. So a key for us is also ensuring that folks are showing up, and attendance is one of the key factors that we would look at as well.

So how do you track demand for the services? How do you identify a community or where this service should be provided?

We are currently not tracking that because the program as we know it is sort of new — at least one or two years — but we are certainly open to assessing that.

Do you know which organizations are contracted out for this program?

There are three library branches: New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library.

And was there an RFP process to receive the funding for that program — that the libraries had to go through — or were they just designated?

No RFP process.

Okay. And in total, what was anticipated to be allocated in fiscal 2027?

So it is $500,000 per library system. $200,000 is what we started out with and then $300,000 was added additionally to that program. I do not know if you want to talk about the breakdown.

Yeah. So this is for FY26. For FY27, as I mentioned earlier, we did get an additional $1.5 million that has been baselined for this program. So for FY27 we are looking at about $2.1 million baseline for English learning and support centers. We are still in the process of figuring out how all of that funding will be allocated. And just very briefly, to go back to your question about the RFP: the libraries were designated this funding when we first launched this program because we had already had a partnership with them to provide programming. This also allowed us to meet the demand for the asylum seeker community that...

(01:40:22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=6022s

That was asking for all of these classes to be readily available throughout the city. So it did allow us as an office to meet that demand. Now that we have baseline funding, we are going to be evaluating all of our programs and then making an assessment, short-term and long-term, in terms of allocations.

Yeah, I hope so because I love my libraries and I think that they are a great place to house this, especially when you are trying to turn it over really quickly with an organization that you trust, that you know can provide the services. But I know services like this are needed in so many different pockets of communities. It is very difficult to move around the city as a newcomer and get access to resources. And so I really do hope the RFP speaks to that and that we can track where that need is and identify that so we can properly provide that service. It is important. So before I move into the next topic, which will be around some of our legal support centers and Action NYC, I am going to allow our amazing CM Joseph, who has another question for you. A quick commercial break, as we call it.

It is along the lines that you were asking, right? So I know about "We Speak" because I taught that program. Is there a possibility where there could be a partnership with District 79 that is already doing that work? I think that should be a conversation when we talk about inter-agency collaboration. D79 does the ESL and the GED, but it serves a large immigrant community which is already embedded in the New York City public school system.

Yeah, CM, that is a great idea and something that we will definitely explore.

See, told you, Chair.

I love this. We are going to be ping-ponging all day. This is great. So for the immigration legal support centers, we know that the preliminary plan includes 11.6 million in baseline funding for legal support centers. The former commissioner changed the program's name from Action NYC to Moya's immigration legal support centers. Can you explain the changes in the new model and how they have improved services?

So I will start and I will kick it over to my colleague, as I am also learning the sort of shift and change. Some of the changes, as I understand them, include adjusting the number of contracted providers, funding levels, deliverables, the target population and the geographic reach. It was not just a name change. I think there was also a more holistic, deliberate approach to this. At the heart of the redesign was the goal of embedding legal service providers within immigrant-dense neighborhoods, alongside organizations that are equipped to really deliver immigration services in a culturally and linguistically informed way. The shift into communities that can service and have long-standing relationships is where you saw a large shift in the actual programming.

And how many centers are currently open?

We have 29 unique providers across 38 contracts. There are 25 legal support centers that are working with a three-year contract and then there are an additional 13 that were former Action NYC partners who were also given an opportunity to apply for funding in FY26.

So will there be additional centers that possibly open under this program?

I think that is part of the assessment that we are working on and figuring out what has been working and what has not. If you would allow me, because I think the numbers speak for themselves — the program has not yet hit its first birthday. We are getting there and we are working to closely assess the needs and whether the model is working or not. But I just wanted to give you the numbers, because to date there has been significant activity across the legal support centers. The program has recorded 8,756 screenings and 3,727 filings through the first half of FY26 and into quarter 3. If you compare this to 7,656 screenings and 4,684 filings that were done for all of FY2025, you can see that the providers have been going above and beyond. I also want to acknowledge the increase in demand. I just wanted to share that with you because we found that number to be an important indicator. Of course there are other assessments and things to that extent, but I wanted to share that number with you.

I appreciate that number. Can you talk about some of the other assessments? I know that there is a lot of assessing going on at this time. So maybe you can talk to some of what you are looking at.

Yeah, we have direct communications with our providers and we are about to start and roll out our quarter 3 check-ins with them. Parts of the conversations are whether or not we are on track to meet deliverables, but also if there are additional services that they want to provide, additional needs that they are seeing on the ground, things like that, as we are doing this massive look under the hood with all our programs at Moya.

And kicking the tires too, I am assuming. So the Council has provided Moya with $850,000 to cover fees for applications and other operational expenses for Moya-funded legal providers. Can you provide us a status on how that funding is being used?

So that particular funding was allocated across 27 providers. 24 of them have this funding already reflected in their FY26 budgets. And providers are also submitting updated budgets to be able to invoice into Passport. There are three providers out of the 27 that have contract amendments that are in progress with our contracting agency DSS to add to this funding. I do not know if there is anything more that you wanted to add to that.

No, very quickly — in total, the amount that went towards filing fees was about a million dollars. We used the $850,000 as well as about $172,000 that was left over from the $4.4 million that was also provided by the Council for legal services. So we made sure that we utilized that funding to be able to provide this much needed support to more providers.

Okay, great. So for the rapid response legal collaborative, the preliminary plan includes 2.2 million in fiscal 26 for the rapid response legal collaborative program. I know we have spoken a lot about this, but are there specific immigrant populations that are facing more challenges than others that were reported by the collaborative? And if so, how are you supporting and prioritizing them?

So we touched a little bit on this earlier with folks who have lost TPS, but there are several populations that are facing a number of challenges, including those who have lost TPS or whose status is really in limbo. Those are the key populations that we are currently focused on. Undocumented individuals more broadly are facing increased fear and uncertainty because of the intensified federal enforcement, which, as Chair mentioned, has had a chilling effect on their willingness to access city services. So we are focused on undocumented individuals as well. We are also seeing a significant need, as we talk to our contracted providers, amongst unaccompanied minors and mixed status families who are navigating this very hostile federal landscape.

So in terms of the immigration legal support hotline, the budget also includes roughly $632,000 in fiscal 2026. How many people currently staff the hotline?

So the hotline employs seven full-time counselors. The counselors at the hotline speak English, French, Haitian Creole, Spanish and Urdu.

And what are the hours of operation?

So they have been expanded beyond our typical Monday through Friday 9 to 5. The expanded hours right now are Monday and Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9:00 to 6:00. The last Saturday of the month has been added and the hotline is available from 9:00 to 5:00.

So as we know, part of the defense here with imminent deportation is that people may need to get to somebody really quickly. So what should someone do outside of those operating hours?

I think they should be engaging directly with providers. We are currently providing materials and listings that are available to both the providers and connecting individuals about KnowYourRights and the RLC, and that information is in fact available in the top 10 languages. If a caller calls the hotline during operating hours, we know that they are going to be directed to staff. And if they call outside of operating hours, I believe there is an option for folks to leave a message and have their call returned.

Are they connected in any way outside of operating hours, like press one to be connected to...?

To add to what the commissioner said, after hours they are just asked to call back during normal operating hours. But it is an issue that we are going to bring back, because I know there were flags about after-hours services, so it is something that we are looking into. When a caller dials in, they are prompted to an IVR system which asks them what language they want to choose. Right now we have Spanish, English, Haitian Creole and I think one more. We are working on rolling out additional languages by the end of the spring.

We have, I believe, 800 different languages spoken in the city, and so we are always going to push for more language access and having that information available.

If you would allow me, Chair, besides the hotline operators that speak the number of languages the commissioner laid out, operators also have access to Language Line, which opens up the menu of additional languages that might be needed depending on who calls.

And you said there were seven now. How many were there last year?

I can circle back with that number. I do not have it handy.

Okay. So how do you anticipate that the demand will change in the coming year and can the level of funding that is allocated there adequately support those needs?

We hope that individuals keep calling the hotline to receive services. That is always a hope for us. In regards to additional assessments for future funding needs, that is part of the larger work that we are currently doing across our programs.

All right. We are getting through a lot, so thank you all for getting through this with me. I know it seems like there is a lot here, but ultimately what we are really trying to get to is to make sure that you have all of the resources that you need to do this important work. We are seeing it on the ground from our constituents and we want to make sure that when we are fighting for this budget, we make sure you have everything that you need covered.

But I know that for the asylum seeker legal services, there was some funding that was cut for ASLAN in fiscal 26, and for fiscal 26 only the City Council restored it for $5 million. Can you explain a little bit about why that funding was cut?

So I will start and my team can fill in some of the blanks. My understanding is that the funding for ASLAN and the navigation centers was actually consolidated into Moya's legal support centers funding. To be more specific, that funding was repurposed to allow us to provide the one-year extension to the former Action NYC providers that currently have a one-year contract with us for FY26.

So that is part of the 7.6 million for fiscal 2026, correct?

In order for us to be able to continue those one-year contracts for those 13 providers in FY26, we utilized and repurposed the ASLAN and navigation centers funding, as well as the $4.4 million allocated by the Council. That has allowed us to provide those one-year contracts for this fiscal year.

Okay. This is what we mean about having to shift and move things around. So I want to get into Local Law 73. As you know, it was meant to develop a survey of newly arrived immigrants, including those who have arrived recently. Can you provide an update on this survey development and the administration, just on the survey development first, and then we will get to the rest.

Yeah, Chair. I think it was a pairing between 73 and 74, if I am not mistaken. Currently DOH is in charge of administering said survey. Moya has supported them and has consulted with them, but DOH would have the latest on where things are.

And are we able to obtain the surveys to know what kind of questions were included in those surveys?

We are happy to circle back, just because we are not the authors of them, but we can check with our colleagues.

Okay. And do you know how many asylum seekers or migrants were involved in each survey?

We do not have that number now because the survey is actively being done, so we would not have access to that data right now.

Okay. And has there been any issues with carrying out that law, creating that survey, any barriers that you have seen for that agency?

Again, we will respond once we touch base with our colleagues.

Okay. We will be circling back on that. The preliminary plan also includes 16.9 million for the deportation defense initiative. What is the projected budget for the deportation defense initiative for fiscal year 27?

We are going to have to confirm that for you. That program is actually managed by DSS, so we do not have oversight over that particular program.

Okay. So I will hold that for them. Just so you know what I am asking, it is both for the projected budget for the deportation defense initiative and also for the immigration opportunity initiative, both for fiscal 27.

We will follow up.

Thank you. It was also announced that the Department of Small Business Services is creating a new office of vendor services as required by our City Council Bill that passed last year. The office of vendor services will be tasked with supporting the city's estimated 23,000 street vendors, nearly all of whom are immigrants. Is Moya planning to work closely with this office?

We were very excited to hear of this announcement and are very much looking forward to teaming up and working closely with the department of vendor services.

Do you know what language capacity will be available for this office?

I actually do not. We can follow up.

Okay. Because I know that the needs of delivery workers, street vendors and small businesses are at the forefront of the Council's agenda. As you know, we have some really strong champions in the Council. So we want to understand — can you describe how you partner to support coalitions of delivery workers, street vendors and small businesses?

I think part of what we are also excited about is that we are under this new portfolio with Deputy Mayor Sue, and we are looking forward to building more robust relationships across agencies, but also with organizations. I would say that we have been in touch with the deliveristas in the past, particularly when issues connected to legal matters came up, and we have been in touch with them. But as the commissioner said, there is more intentionality that we are hoping to move forward with, especially with the new office that was created, and with the street vendor project in particular.

I am excited as well, as are most of the champions in the City Council. We will be tracking this and we are looking forward to continuing this work and having you back to ask specific questions around small businesses and how we support them, as well as a number of other topics that we will be working on in collaboration with my other council colleagues in terms of committees. So there will be some of that happening in the near future.

For now, I want to thank you for your time and your testimony. We are going to be moving into the public comment section. We do not have anyone else here and there is no one online, Council members. So we will be taking a short break so I can move my feet around. Thank you so much, Commissioner. It will be about 5 to 10 minutes.

Chair, we want to thank you and your team as well.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, just a quick PSA. No one is to approach the dais. If you would like to sign up to testify in person and have not filled out a slip, you can do so outside at the table at the start. Thank you for your cooperation. Quiet down. Can everyone get their seats? We are about to begin.

Thank you so much for coming back. We are now going to ask our invited guest, former speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, to give testimony at today's hearing. All right. When you are ready, just press the button and go.

Just go to the middle.

Okay, go to the middle. Okay.

All right. Well, good afternoon to everybody. It really is wild to be here. I have not been in this building since I left office and it is wonderful to see the upgrades and everything. To everybody that is in this room, all the advocates that do the work each and every day on behalf of our immigrant communities, I commend you all for the work and for being here. It was a pleasure when I was in office to be able to work side by side with many of you.

So good afternoon to the chairwoman of this committee, who happens to be my council woman, Elsie Encarnación. We all know the dark times that we are living in. There is a national siege on immigrant families and the communities we are a part of and it is upon us. This moment demands more from us. New York and other cities must stand strong for the human rights and values at the core of our local policies. This city does not buckle under pressure. We act. Our upcoming budget negotiations are a critical opportunity to aggressively meet these dangerous times, including by bolstering offices and services on the front lines of work and leadership.

ICE and Border Patrol agents, masked and dressed in full combat gear, have flooded cities across the country and now our airports. These agents have become the foot soldiers of a cruel authoritarian regime, unleashing indiscriminate violence against anyone they perceive as other — citizen and non-citizen alike. Sadly, it is crystal clear to agents that they will not be held accountable for their actions even in the most egregious of cases. In fact, the White House routinely posts memes and AI-generated videos that celebrate ICE and Border Patrol's cruelty and advance not-so-thinly-veiled white supremacist propaganda.

There is no denying that a year and a half into Trump's second term, his administration is unapologetic in scapegoating non-white people, flouting due process and increasing surveillance, all while lining the pockets of the president's cronies in the most corrupt administration ever. New York City has grown, become stronger over time and thrives thanks to the contributions of immigrants. Its rich diversity attracts millions of visitors and dollars to the city each year, providing more to our local economy than what they receive in any type of services, despite what ignorant critics may spew.

In recognition of this, sanctuary protections have been embedded into the fabric of our city since the 1980s. Both Republican and Democratic mayors have recognized that communities are safer when immigrants do not fear reporting crime to the police. Similarly, communities are healthier when all who reside within them can access health care, and financially sound when there are diverse job opportunities and strong worker protections. With over 3...

(02:15:45) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=8145s

With millions of immigrants calling New York City home and many more living in mixed status households, the City must ensure immigrants feel safe accessing city services. The Council has an exemplary record of taking strong legislative action to protect their rights and ensure that city agencies and law enforcement can focus on their primary duty: ensuring the safety and well-being of our City. To that end, the Council under the leadership of the previous Council speaker passed legislation that prohibits local law enforcement from entering into 287G agreements, which would allow them to cooperate with ICE on civil immigration enforcement. Additional laws ensure that city resources and time are not used in support of federal immigration enforcement, including by prohibiting ICE access to Rikers Island. We also passed detainer laws that protect immigrants' due process rights by ensuring that the NYPD, Department of Correction and Department of Probation only honor detainer requests when they are accompanied by a judicial warrant. And we set a national standard by investing millions to fund legal and other services that provide a critical safety net, one which has only expanded since then, thanks to the leadership of our New York City Council.

As our federal elected representatives attempt to rein in ICE and Border Patrol's most egregious behavior through funding negotiations, and cities around the country pass laws similar to those we have had on the books for years, New York City must continue to be a national leader in partnership with New York State. At the state level, I want to commend Senator Gennardis and Assemblywoman Rees, prime sponsors of the New York for All Act, and hope to see this legislation passed as part of the current state budget negotiations. This would permanently bring New York State more in line with our city sanctuary laws and offer critical protections to millions of New Yorkers.

Here in New York City, with a Council that is new and a mayor at the helm, we must continue to fight federal overreach and hate while advancing policies and initiatives that enhance our long-standing efforts to promote the inclusion, protection and celebration of immigrant New Yorkers. But today, many of the programs intended to support immigrant New Yorkers exist across multiple agencies, creating a patchwork system that can be difficult to track, coordinate and strengthen. This fragmentation makes it harder to ensure accountability, maintain a cohesive strategy and quickly respond to the evolving needs of our communities.

So to meet this moment with the urgency it demands — something that many advocates have been advocating for over the years — we should really take the next step and consider establishing a standalone immigration agency, one that can bring together the various contracts and initiatives that are currently spread across these agencies, ensuring that work is coordinated, nimble, strategic and fully aligned with the values we have long upheld. At a time when immigrant communities are being targeted and tested at every level, our response must be equally intentional. Obviously, as part of that demand is also the fact that all the services that are currently financed and funded should not see a dollar withheld. If anything, understanding that we have difficult times, we should see an expansion if possible of some of those critical services — I am sure many of which you will hear from the advocates today. But I think that having this comprehensive city agency, and the weight that comes with it, is really imperative, so that the agency can be nimble and deal with what is to come.

We know that New York City is going to be on the front lines of that. At a time when immigrant communities are being targeted and tested at every level, our response must be equally intentional. We have led before and we must continue to lead now, not only by defending our policies but by strengthening the systems that make them real in people's lives. So gracias, thank you for inviting me here today, and I appreciate the opportunity.

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Thank you, and thank you for coming. Obviously, for those of you who do not know, I served under her when she was a council member — not as speaker — for six years, and saw her do this work day in and day out from the day she stepped into office to the day I left her office. I am proud to be here as one of the people that she has really grown into this space, and I hope that I make her proud in the work that I do here today and that I carry on. So all of you will witness that this is mentorship. This is what happens when you really do the work, not just for the whole city, but when you really look at your community and look at people who can take on the work and champion it moving forward, because the work never stops and we need good people at the forefront. So thank you so much for that.

(02:20:42) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGagE0cKXJ0&t=8442s

I just want to say to the people in this room: it is the work that you do that gives us the ability to be successful in the work that we accomplish. The detainer laws that we talk about that we have in the City of New York, getting ICE out of Rikers — that only came out of the advocacy of some of the groups who, when they met with me, said, "This is happening in our city. We need to respond." So please, I know the times are tough and things get difficult, but the work that you do does make a difference and it impacts people's lives. So thank you for that.