New York State Capitol in Albany. Photo: Ryland West/ALM

In the face of New York's markedly increased immigration population—due in part to the transportation of 30,000 asylum seekers to the state from Texas—a coalition converged on the New York Capitol on Monday to demand that the upcoming budget provide them a right to counsel.

The New York Immigration Coalition continued with its campaign to help immigrants facing deportation.

According to the coalition's spokesman, Reed Dunlea, it is asking for a $100 million allocation in the fiscal 2024 state budget.

This would include a $55 million investment in launching the first year of the Access to Representation Act, a bill that lawmakers declined to take action on during the legislative session that concluded in June.

The coalition also requests that immigration legal funding services within the Liberty Defense Project increase from its current $12 million, to $35 million. The project provides free legal assistance and representation to immigrants in New York through a network of experienced nonprofit attorneys, pro bono lawyers, and other legal professionals and law students.

Another $10 million is requested for the urgent legal needs for asylum seekers.

Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, a Colombian-American immigration attorney and Democrat from Queens, told rally-goers she's honored to represent Corona, Jackson Heights, and parts of Elmhurst, a district with the highest number of non-citizen New Yorkers.

Cruz said her district consists of a great number of immigrants who qualify for administrative relief from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and asylum seekers.

"These are also the people who cannot afford to pay for a $10,000 lawyer to defend themselves from a deportation," Cruz said.

"When you go to court, the government who is trying to deport and separate you from your family is represented by a lawyer, and all we want is to have that same chance, that when our family member, when our neighbor goes into that courthouse, they're represented by someone. And they're not going broke or having to borrow from a loan shark to be able to get that chance," she said.

Cruz said the constitution should allow people who are facing immigration in a civil court to have the same right to counsel as someone facing immigration in a criminal proceeding.

"We want to take advantage of immigration labor, but when it comes to defending their rights, when it comes to giving them a chance at a fair life in the United States, we're saying figure it out yourself; you pay for it yourself," Cruz said.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said: "I can't imagine what it must be like if you're not from this country, if English is not your first language, if you can't navigate New York's legal system—and by the way who can navigate New York's legal system and appear before a judge where they may issuing a deportation order?"

"This is about protecting the lives and dignity and the totality of families, making sure that we support our immigrant neighbors, ensuring individuals who are facing deportation are not sent back to a nation where they may be killed because of their political or personal beliefs, or who they love," Hoylman added.