Immigrant-ARC Responds to Gov. Hochul's Statement on Resettling Ukrainians

Urges City & State to Increase Funding for Legal Services

NEW YORK, NY (04/08/2022) (readMedia)-- Today, Governor Hochul released a statement that she had spoken with HHS Secretary Becerra on the Biden Administration's welcome promise to resettle 100,000 Ukrainians in the U.S. The Governor said in her statement that New Yorkers are prepared to assist and "ensure a smooth transition into our communities." However, earlier this week, a report from The CITY detailed the confusion faced on-the-ground with resettling Ukrainians in New York as the Biden Administration has yet to release any plans and local governments fail to increase funding for legal services.

This is just another example of how the lack of details from Washington's various responses to the migration crisis have left communities with more questions than answers, and providers scrambling to prepare to help. Ukrainian, Afghan, Haitian, Cameroonian communities, to name but a few, have been held in suspense waiting to know how to receive the help they were promised by the Biden Administration last year. In response, Immigrant ARC (I-ARC) issued the following statement:

"As Governor Hochul said, New York has always billed itself as a proud beacon for immigrants and families seeking refuge, especially during the darkest days of the Trump Administration. But we need to put our money where our mouth is. I-ARC has polled its over 80 statewide members, all of whom are legal service providers, and the reality is that no one has capacity to meet the pressing needs of the latest crisis. If we want to live up to the Biden administration's welcome promise to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and to return humanity and dignity to our immigration processes local governments must fully fund legal services – that means increasing the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative to $4 million from its current $2.6 million and ensuring the final State budget includes $24.4 million from the State. Otherwise, we're going to see more stories like this report from The CITY, despite the best intentions of our political leadership," said Camille Mackler, founder and Executive Director of I-ARC.

About I-ARC

Immigrant ARC is a collaborative of over 80 organizations and professional associations providing legal services to New York's immigrant communities throughout the State. Born out of the legal effort at JFK Airport during the Muslim Travel Ban in 2017, our mission is clear: to mobilize New York State's legal service providers by facilitating communication and information sharing to better support our immigrant communities; to organize and respond to issues as they arise by coordinating resources and fostering best practices among providers; and to resist and challenge anti-immigrant policies by shining a light on injustices and confronting inequalities faced by our communities in the legal system.