New York, NY—Today, the New York City Council released their response to Mayor Adams’ preliminary budget for FY26.
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“In sharp contrast to the Adams administration, the City Council’s preliminary budget response demonstrates its commitment to improving the lives of immigrant New Yorkers. But given the Trump administration's anti-immigrant stance and explicit threats against our City and State, the City can do even better to secure social services and protections for low-income and immigrant New Yorkers.
“The City Council is proposing a total of $109 million for immigration legal services, an increase from last year’s allocation of $25 million and an important recognition of the challenges facing immigrant New Yorkers today. But these crucial investments need to go farther, with additional funding needed to support the Rapid Response program and explicit allocations for the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP). New York families will celebrate the reversal of $197 million in cuts to 3K and Pre-K programs, including extended day seats and outreach funding, allowing more families to access early childhood education. In addition, an expanded $60 million investment in Promise NYC will ensure even more New York families will benefit by adding 3,500 additional seats. In this proposal, New Yorkers would be able to access our city’s libraries again with an additional $62.5 million for the City’s three library systems, which would restore 7-day service. Immigrant New Yorkers need more concrete commitments to fund immigrant services and programming like adult literacy, food assistance, education, and community health – especially in light of recent federal policy actions.”