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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Luis Mancheno, Supervising Attorney of New York Immigrant Family Unity Project at The Legal Aid Society
4:48:50
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134 sec
Luis Mancheno, representing The Legal Aid Society, testifies about the dire situation facing immigrant communities in New York City and the urgent need for increased funding for legal services. He emphasizes the worsening conditions for immigrants and the challenges faced by legal service providers due to underfunding.
- Highlights recent incidents of immigrants being detained when attending immigration proceedings
- States that IOI (Immigrant Opportunities Initiative) is underfunded by about $12,500,000, with providers funding 50% of their work from other sources
- Urges the council to advocate for additional funding to maintain vital legal representation for New Yorkers
Luis Mancheno
4:48:50
My name is Luis Mancheno, and I am the citywide director of legal services New York City.
4:48:56
I am speaking today on behalf of my organization which is one of the organizations that is constructed to provide legal services under the IOI contract.
4:49:06
As I was walking here today, I was thinking about exactly how I wanted to make sure that we understand how bad things are for the immigrant community today, and all I could think about was walking by 26 Federal Plaza where a bunch of New Yorkers and our siblings New Yorkers are facing immigration proceedings.
4:49:27
And I was thinking about how just last week people who were coming for their immigration removal proceedings were being picked up and detained when all that they were doing was trying to comply with what they were supposed to do.
4:49:41
The reality is that things are much worse than they have ever been.
4:49:46
The work that our attorneys are doing and our legal services providers are doing is much harder than it has ever been.
4:49:53
Chairwoman Abuela was stalking and asking about how bad things are for our staff members and the reality is that we do need more funding.
4:50:02
We are not able to do the work that we have to carry out especially today because we do not have enough funding.
4:50:10
In fact, IOI is defunded by about $12,500,000 meaning that we fund about 50% of the work that we do from other sources that we're able, that we have been able to find throughout these years.
4:50:26
The reality is that not only things are much worse when we are litigating cases in front of immigration court, but we also do not have those sources of funding anymore.
4:50:36
So we're gonna be facing a situation where we are not gonna be able to provide the service that our New Yorker citizens need so much when things are at the worst level possible.
4:50:48
So I ask here today on behalf of the organization that I represent and the coalition that we represent to please help us advocating to get those fundings, the funding that we need in order to be able to provide legal representation that is so vital for New Yorkers today.
4:51:04
Thank you.