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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ernie Collette, Supervising Attorney of the Immigration Law Project at Mobilization for Justice
4:51:05
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135 sec
Ernie Collette, Supervising Attorney at Mobilization for Justice, testified about the urgent need for increased funding for immigrant legal services in New York City. He highlighted the large number of unrepresented immigrants in court proceedings and the challenges posed by current immigration policies.
- Nearly 1 million people are in immigration court in New York State, with 38% lacking legal representation.
- Current administration policies prioritize speed over due process, making cases more difficult for immigrants.
- Collette emphasized both the financial and moral imperative for the city to maintain support for immigrant legal services.
Ernie Collette
4:51:05
Good afternoon.
4:51:06
Thank you so much for the committee for allowing me to testify.
4:51:09
My name is Ernie Collette.
4:51:10
I'm the supervising attorney of the immigration law project at Mobilization for Justice.
4:51:15
I appreciate obviously all the city council's efforts for holding Moya and making sure that we have truth to power with regards to the finances and the numbers.
4:51:24
And as many of my colleagues have already discussed, quite frankly, the funding is just not enough for us to be able to maintain and continue representing a lot of immigrant New Yorkers.
4:51:34
Thank you very much, Chairwoman Abulis, for being able to suss out the numbers during the testimony.
4:51:39
But these are the numbers that I also feel are very important for the committee to understand as well.
4:51:44
Currently, and this is just talking about immigration court in New York State, as of March 2025, we have a little under a million people in immigration court.
4:51:52
And approximately of that million, we have about 62% that are currently being represented.
4:51:58
It's that 38% that are pro se that really keep me up at night.
4:52:02
I know that anyone here on this panel and all the people that work for our legal services organizations are gonna give them the best possibility of being able to stay here in in The United States.
4:52:13
But that 38% is incredibly under attack when we have an administration that's trying to effectively prioritize speed over due process.
4:52:23
Fast tracking removal proceedings, pretermitting or terminating asylum applications that maybe were considered to be adequate enough to get to the next step, but judges are making the decisions that they're not.
4:52:34
Of course, as we discussed earlier, individuals being having their hearing terminated and then being detained from ICE after leaving their hearing.
4:52:43
Cases being recalendered erroneously, and then just policy changes in general with the EOIR to make cases more difficult.
4:52:50
And that's only in immigration court.
4:52:53
The communication and the advice aspect is fantastic.
4:52:57
It's excellent for us to be able to talk to clients, but as Monique mentioned, people are coming back to the same organizations over and over trying to get more help, and we're unable to do so.
4:53:08
We have a financial imperative here for the city, but I also feel like we have a moral imperative as well.
4:53:14
And it's our obligation as a city of immigrants to maintain that.
4:53:17
I know you'll keep up the fight, and we really appreciate it.
4:53:20
Thank you.