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Advocates defending the state’s immigrant communities called for several initiatives to be included in the final deal, from expanded tax credits to legal services funding, citing ongoing attacks by the Trump administration and the impact of federal cuts.
For the past few weeks, New Yorkers have been waiting for Albany lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul to announce a budget deal—which was due on April 1, and is now in overtime.
According to published reports, negotiations have been drawn out by policy issues the governor wants to address, such as changing the discovery reform law, prohibiting cell phones in schools, and banning masks in public.
Meanwhile, advocates defending the state’s immigrant communities have continued to call for their favored initiatives to be included, citing ongoing attacks by the Trump administration and the potential impacts of federal funding cuts.
But what are advocates asking for, and what has been included in proposals from the governor, the Senate and the Assembly? Here’s an overview.
Where all agree
“Your family is my fight.” That’s the title of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget this year, which includes a proposal to reduce child poverty by expanding the Empire State Child Credit (ESCC), available to New York residents who have at least one qualifying child.
Under the governor’s proposal, the ESCC would expand to include low- and moderate-income New Yorkers, giving up to $1,000 for children under the age of 4. State lawmakers’ “one-house” budgets supported it—though with some tweaks.
The Assembly’s proposal would create a new New York Works Tax Credit that would “consolidate the existing Empire State Child Tax Credit, the state Earned-Income Tax Credit (EITC), and the dependent exemption into one combined credit for most taxpayers.”
Meanwhile, the Senate’s budget proposal seeks to replace the governor’s tax credit plan with the Working Families Tax Credit, or bill (S.2082/A.3474), which would give families up to $1,600 per child annually.
Currently, the Empire State Child Tax Credit requires that the qualifying child have a valid Social Security Number or an IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), which is used by many undocumented immigrants or mixed-status families. With the proposed expansions, these families could also receive these tax credits.
Poverty experts say expanding tax credits for families is key to fulfilling the state’s commitment to reduce child poverty by 50 percent by 2031 (as required by the signing of the state’s Child Poverty Reduction Act in 2021.)
“Families deserve the credit, and parents need the money,” said Murad Awawdeh, CEO and president of the New York Immigration Coalition. “We want to put money back in the pockets of parents across the state. The affordability crisis is hurting them. We’re happy that the governor included … a version of it in her budget, but we think our plan [the WFTC] goes further.”
State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, co-sponsor of the WFTC bill, said the momentum for his proposal has been building over the last year after 80 organizations endorsed it, including the Business Council of New York State.
The New York State Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council (CPRAC), created as part of the passage of the Child Poverty Reduction Act, also released its policy recommendations in December 2024 that projected the positive economic impact of increasing tax credits.
“I think the governor’s team has been a little bit hesitant to want to commit significant levels of funding, given a lot of uncertainty around the federal government and budget cuts, and the economy,” Gounardes said.
“But this is a proven way to help lift up families, and when things get really bad financially in the country, it’s lower-income families and working-class families who get hit the hardest,” he added. “And I’d argue that these are the folks who are going to bear the brunt of the harms caused by the federal government.”
Senate and Assembly asks
Among the CPRAC’s other policy recommendations to cut child poverty: a state-level housing voucher. Both the Senate and Assembly’s budget proposals seconded this, calling for $250 million for the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP).
For years, housing advocates and legislators have pushed for the subsidy, which would help homeless New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status, find permanent housing by covering a portion of their rent each month. According to the CPRAC recommendations report, in New York City alone, such a voucher program could reduce poverty by 12.5 percent.
But Hochul has yet to embrace the plan so far, previously citing concerns about costs.
“The governor is on an island of one, opposing HAVP,” said Natalia Aristizabal, deputy director of Make the Road New York.
Also in the Senate and Assembly one-house budgets, advocates welcomed the inclusion of $75 million for immigration legal services through the Office of New Americans (ONA).
This amount, however, falls short of what the advocates aim for: they want $165 million for legal services and infrastructure, such as fellowships and other incentives to attract legal professionals who want to represent immigrants.
Calls to fund legal representation for immigrants have intensified after Donald Trump’s administration canceled part of a $200 million contract for legal services for unaccompanied children in March, as New York minors face court hearings without lawyers, and providers scramble to meet a rise in demand.
Another area where cuts at the federal level have prompted more urgent conversations is education. The Assembly’s budget proposal would make adjustments to the state’s school funding formula to increase the weighting for English language learners—thereby increasing the state education aid that districts receive to educate ELL students.
The change would boost funding to New York City schools by $148 million, explained Loris Toribio, a senior policy advisor for the anti-poverty nonprofit Robin Hood.
“We strongly support this proposal,” Toribio said via email. “Given the new [presidential] administration’s significant staff cuts to the U.S. Department of Education and general uncertainty they’ve created around the provision of federal education funds targeted to low-income students and English Language Learners, we strongly urge the state to provide direct support to these students by including the Assembly’s proposal in the final budget.”
Legislation pending
Other proposals that are important to the state’s immigrant communities were not included in any budget proposals. Some of these have been introduced as bills, which the state legislature has the opportunity to pass before lawmakers conclude this year’s session in June.
For example, the New York for All Act (S.2235/A3506)—which would restrict state officials, employees, and entities from disclosing people’s immigration status for federal enforcement purposes—was not included in any budget proposal but remains a priority for advocates.
Today, the state’s unions joined their voices in a letter to the governor and state leaders calling for the bill’s passage, citing the need for a statewide policy for how local governments should interact with immigration authorities.
“Today, a patchwork of policies exist—from New York City to Nassau and beyond, so a worker who lives in one place and who steps across a county line to work, can face drastically changing possibilities of being deported,” reads the letter.
“I tried to get it included in the budget conversation. I was unsuccessful. I still think it’s very important,” acknowledged Gounardes, who sponsored the bill along with Assemblymember Karines Reyes.
The recent arrests of undocumented immigrants around the state has renewed calls to approve the bill. While New York City has sanctuary laws prohibiting cooperation between local authorities and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), those protections are not in place elsewhere around the state.
“We had hoped the state would take action on New York for All quickly because the feds clearly do not care about due process, but we will continue to fight for that legislation post-budget,” Aristizabal said via email.
As the number of arrests rises, the need for legal representation also increases. For years, advocates have called for the passage of the Access to Representation Act (S141/A270), which would provide legal counsel to migrants in immigration court proceedings.
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