{"id":482,"date":"2026-07-24T09:12:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=482"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:12:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:12:44","slug":"is-new-york-adequately-serving-immigrants-its-hard-to-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessrelocationdigest.com\/?p=482","title":{"rendered":"Is New York adequately serving immigrants? It\u2019s hard to say."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The state comptroller\u2019s office is out with a new audit of the Office for New Americans as the demand for legal services funding and support for immigrants has hit a fever pitch over the last several years. Its findings boil down to \u201cwe don\u2019t know what we don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Office for New Americans, part of the state Department of State, primarily connects recent immigrants and other foreign-born New Yorkers with free resources, including legal services. It works with a network of nonprofits who receive grant money through ONA to assist immigrants with any number of matters from citizenship interview prep to removal proceedings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Immigrant legal services have come under strain in recent years thanks to an influx of migrants entering the state starting in 2022, and more recently thanks to President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown. The new audit found that ONA doesn\u2019t collect the data necessary to estimate potential unmet need and ensure that partner nonprofits have the capacity to meet that need.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wait times for services through ONA grant recipients can vary greatly, according to the audit, with the comptroller\u2019s office getting estimates anywhere from no wait time to six months for citizenship application assistance. The office doesn\u2019t collect information on the number of people who seek services through partner nonprofits that wind up never getting the help they sought, or the waiting time.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York has made significant investments in immigrant legal services, and more reliable information will help policymakers ensure these essential service needs are met,\u201d state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said in a statement. \u201cOur audit found the state does not collect key data on unmet need, wait times and provider capacity. Having this information will facilitate identifying service gaps, evaluating program success and effectively targeting resources.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office began its audit of the Office for New Americans at the end of 2023 on the heels of the migrant crisis facing New York City placing strains on municipal resources. It was around that same time that legislators and immigrant rights advocates began pushing harder for the Access to Representation Act to create a right to an attorney in immigration court, along with funding for legal service providers to make that happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Funding for ONA has increased in recent years, with a record $74.2 million allocated in this year\u2019s state budget for immigrant legal services as part of the office\u2019s overall $82.48 million budget. But service providers have reported being under stress, requiring more funding to hire and train attorneys, and serve underrepresented immigrant communities during the second Trump administration.<\/p>\n

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The need is especially stark upstate, according to a March report from The New York Legal Services Coalition. The comptroller\u2019s audit came to a similar conclusion, finding that lack of organizations in the North Country with necessary U.S. Department of Justice accreditation \u201cpresents a continuing challenge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kelsey Pirnak, advocacy manager at the Vera Institute for Justice, applauded the audit for highlighting the need for clearer reporting to understand how to better serve immigrant communities and the benefits that ONA services provide. But she said adding new reporting mechanisms isn\u2019t enough to support struggling service providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProviders need dedicated funding for staffing, technology, and infrastructure, so they have the capacity to conduct data collection and robust reporting, in addition to carrying out urgent direct services work,\u201d Pirnak said in a statement. \u201cStreamlined, timely contracting and disbursement, as well as flexible work plans, are also a key part of the solution for comprehensive reporting and effective service delivery.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audit does not include recommendations about funding streams, or whether the state should allocate the $175 million for immigrant legal services that many advocates called for this year. But the additional reporting requirements and standardization could provide ONA and the state with data that better informs the monetary question come budget time.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of State said it is pleased the audit \u2013 which examined operations from 2019 through 2024 \u2013 did not find any fraud or abuse in ONA. \u201cAt its core, this review confirmed that ONA has remained steadfast and effective in its continuing mission to establish a network of providers to successfully connect immigrant New Yorkers in need to free, trusted legal services and vital support,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cONA stands proudly by its record and the positive impact it has had on the many thousands of New Yorkers whom ONA has helped through these turbulent times.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The state comptroller\u2019s audit of the Office for New Americans found the agency is missing key data metrics to help evaluate need. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,27,3],"tags":[17,29,7],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration","category-kathy-hochul","category-new-york-state","tag-immigration","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-new-york-state"],"yoast_head":"\nIs New York adequately serving immigrants? 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