Mayor Adams’ administration has agreed to significantly increase funding for immigrant legal services after pressure from City Council Democrats, with a deal on this year’s city government budget now likely imminent, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The issue over how much money to earmark for immigrant legal services emerged as a key sticking point this week in negotiations between the mayor’s office and the Council on the city budget, which must by law be adopted before Tuesday.
The mayor initially proposed adding an additional $4.4 million for a program providing low-income immigrants with free legal representation, an initiative many see as especially critical amid President Trump’s controversial “mass deportation” crackdown.
The Council’s Democrats balked at that proposal, saying far more money is needed, resulting in tense talks Thursday. On Friday, Council sources told the Daily News that negotiators had reached a breakthrough.
According to the sources, the mayor has agreed to earmark $33.6 million in funding for the program in this year’s budget, a nearly eight-fold increase over the initially proposed levels.
In addition, the mayor has agreed to allocate a $41.1 million in funding for two other programs providing legal representation for immigrant families and unaccompanied minors.
Taken together, the $74.7 million allocation marks a three-fold increase over the funding for immigrant legal services baked into last year’s budget.
Spokespeople for the mayor didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
There had initially been hope Mayor Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams would announce a ceremonial handshake agreement Friday on the city budget. It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon when the handshake deal might take palce, as the two sides continued to haggle over a few other outstanding issues.
With Josephine Stratman
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