Mamdani pledges to spend $100M more for free lawyers to help migrants facing deportation
By Gabrielle Fahmy
Published Sep. 27, 2025, 9:43 a.m. ET
Taxpayers will pick up an additional $100 million tab for illegal migrants facing deportation, Democratic Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani pledges, calling it a “cornerstone” of his campaign.
“Four hundred thousand of our residents are right now in urgent risk of deportation,” the socialist lamented on MSNBC “The Weekend,” adding fewer than 200 of them received access to free lawyers last year.
The city’s 2026 budget, passed in June, already includes $54.5 million to fight deportation orders in court on the taxpayer’s dime – “more than any other major city in America,” Mayor Eric Adams has said.
Mamdani aims to blow that amount out of the water, reiterating a promise buried in his campaign platform, under his “Trump-Proofing NYC” tenet.
“A cornerstone of our campaign is to increase funding for those very legal defense services by more than $100 million so that we can ensure we’re taking every step we can to keep New Yorkers safe, to keep New Yorkers together, and to show the world that they are welcome in this city,” he said.
To do that, Mamdani vowed to beef up headcount in the city’s Law Department by 200, without providing more specifics.
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https://nypost.com/2025/09/27/us-news/mamdani-pledges-to-pump-another-100-million-for-free-lawyers-for-migrants-facing-deportation/
