The New York state budget under Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo sets aside a whopping $10 million to provide legal services to immigrants, including deportable illegal aliens.
The 2017-2018 budget funnels $4 million of the funds directly to the New York Family Unity Project, which says its mission is to give free legal services to deportable aliens to protect them from expulsion.
The NYFUP is a project of a radical left-wing group calling itself the Versa Institute of Justice. The Institute says America’s justice system is “brutal” and that the institute’s purpose is “to drive change” and “build and improve” America’s justice system.
State Sen. Jeffrey Klein said the taxpayers’ money will be used to stop deportations of illegals and help process green card applications.
Other groups that are part of the project’s coaltion hope the program will expand to other states.
“The statewide expansion of [the project] will help thousands of unjust deportations and ensure due process for immigrants targeted by harsh immigration enforcement policies,” said Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a member of the Unity Project. “New York is setting a powerful example that we hope other state and local governments will follow.”
The remainder of the $10 million budget allocation will reportedly be disbursed to other left-wing groups that promote immigration, including the New York Immigration Coalition, the Empire Justice Center, the Northern Manhattan Immigration Coalition for Immigrant Rights, and the Hispanic Federation.
The Versa Institute says that among its main strategies are other efforts aimed at “shrinking the jailed population in the United States” by “reducing police over-reliance on arrest.”