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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jodi Ziesemer, Co-Director of the Immigrant Protection Unit at New York Legal Assistance Group
6:38:00
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157 sec
Jodi Ziesemer testified about three key programs: the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative, Key to the City program, and Immigrant and Health Initiatives. She emphasized the need for increased funding and support for these programs, particularly in light of rising deportation orders and enforcement.
- The Rapid Response Legal Collaborative has an 88% success rate in challenging removal orders but faced budget cuts despite increased demand.
- Key to the City program provides monthly community-based intake clinics and screenings throughout the city.
- Ziesemer called for the restoration and expansion of the million-dollar budget for the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative.
Jodi Ziesemer
6:38:00
Good afternoon.
6:38:00
Thank you for this opportunity to testify.
6:38:03
My name is Jodi Klesmer.
6:38:05
I am the co director of the Immigrant Protection Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group.
6:38:11
And I just wanna touch on three programs, not to repeat what some of my colleagues have already testified to, and who call for the increased and continuing support for these three programs.
6:38:26
The first is the rapid response legal collaborative, the second is the key to the city program, and finally immigrant and health initiatives.
6:38:35
So the rapid response legal collaborative remains a unique program within the city's legal ecosystem.
6:38:41
In that, it provides high quality legal representation to post order cases for immigrants who have already been ordered removed or deported either because they have been denied asylum or another form of relief or more likely because they have missed a hearing.
6:38:56
We've had an enormous uptick in the number of removal orders in the New York City courts just in the last three years.
6:39:04
The number rose from 24 to 24,000 in fiscal year twenty three which was a 64% increase and it has risen each additional year.
6:39:13
The Rapid Response Legal Collaborative has the flexibility in its programming to rapidly pivot and to meet emerging needs and have filed hundreds of motions to reopen, stays, and appeals to challenge these removal orders, and we have an 88% success rate.
6:39:31
Unfortunately, last year, the mayor proposed cutting and did cut our budget in half despite the increased need and demand for our services.
6:39:41
Temporary funding from this council helped avert a crisis, but the program's future remains precarious.
6:39:47
With enforcement and deportation surging, the city council must fully restore and expand our million dollar budget.
6:39:55
I also want to talk about key to the city, which is a long standing program partnership that NILIG has had with the New York Immigration Coalition.
6:40:03
We provide monthly community based intake clinics and screenings and rotating locations throughout the city.
UNKNOWN
6:40:10
Thank you for
Tanesha Grant
6:40:11
your testimony.
UNKNOWN
6:40:12
Time has expired.
Jodi Ziesemer
6:40:12
Screenings.
6:40:14
Thank you for your time.
6:40:15
I'll provide written testimony for the rest of
Alexa Avilés
6:40:17
Jody, apologies for mispronouncing your last name.
6:40:20
I can't read my own handwriting.
6:40:22
Apologies.
Jodi Ziesemer
6:40:23
It's a tricky one.
Alexa Avilés
6:40:24
Thank you thank you for your testimony, and we look forward to receiving it in writing.
6:40:30
Thank you so much.
Jodi Ziesemer
6:40:32
Thank you for a long day and for sticking with us and hearing all of our testimony.