Hochul, Mamdani united against ICE, pledge legal funding for migrant children

New York Democratic leaders assembled in force Wednesday to announce that the state would provide $7.25 million in legal aid services for unaccompanied migrant children, presenting a united front behind Gov. Kathy Hochul against the Trump administration amid a surge of federal immigration activity across the state.

“We don’t think it’s right for a child to be left alone in the court defending themselves,” Hochul said, flanked by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Attorney General Letitia James as they gathered in her Manhattan office. She added, “That statement of our values as Americans and as New Yorkers is just thrown on the trash heap of civility and other long-standing norms.”

Hochul and other top Democrats are remaining steadfast in countering federal deportation efforts as the governor’s race tightens less than three months until Election Day – and just days before the president heads to Long Island to appear with Republican gubernatorial nominee and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. 

The state is stepping in to fill federal funding gaps after the Trump administration allowed a $356 million annual contract with legal aid providers to expire July 31. It was a decision that has already had broad ramifications, leaving over 25,000 unaccompanied migrant children at risk of deportation to navigate the immigration system alone, without legal representation. More than 1,300 of those children are in New York – and there have already been more deportation hearings for unaccompanied migrant children this year than throughout all of 2025. 

“That is a betrayal of some of the most vulnerable people in our city and an insult … to the very ideals upon which our nation has been built today,” Mamdani said.

While the federal government technically awarded a new contract to a small Texas law firm with ties to the Trump administration, per The Associated Press, the firm’s experience with immigration law is sparse. According to James, the funding is also still in limbo. Mamdani expressed skepticism about the move, arguing that many of the contract’s service providers “lack the credibility and the seriousness to protect these children.”

U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents have ramped up their presence across the state in wake of a new state law included in this year’s budget to take effect Aug. 25 restricting local police from having formal 287(g) agreements to assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement. The provision – which Hochul has touted and did so again Wednesday – was upheld by a federal judge in a split decision earlier this month. The judge blocked part of the law that bars all law enforcement officers – including ICE agents – from wearing masks or face coverings.

The state directed all counties with existing 287(g) agreements to end them by the time the law takes effect, but some local officials, like in Rensselaer and Otsego counties, have said they will ignore the new state policy. Several counties, including those without an agreement, have indicated they will consider filing an additional lawsuit challenging the policy. 

That includes Blakeman, who said Sunday that he’s weighing his legal options as he decides  if, or how, he’ll change his county’s 287(g) agreement. Blakeman’s running mate, Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, has said the new law will not stop him or his officers from working with ICE.

Asked for her message to Blakeman on the matter, Hochul said, “My message is I expect him to follow the rules of New York, and there are consequences if you do not. Someone like that will intentionally misrepresent – which is a nice way of saying ‘lie’ about – what we're actually talking about, because we are not disallowing cooperation with local law enforcement when it comes to crimes.” 

Mamdani proactively stepped in to defend the governor after she was asked about the criticism she’s faced from Blakeman and the president. “If New Yorkers want a leader like the governor that we have, who can look at that cruelty and name it for what it is, then they know that the choice is Gov. Hochul,” the mayor said. “If they want a leader who looks at the cruelty of ICE and sees a playbook of what to deliver at an even greater extent in New York state, then that’s Bruce Blakeman.”