New York—Today, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced her $252 billion executive budget for FY26 espousing, “your family is my fight.”
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“At a time when immigrant New Yorkers are facing unprecedented attacks from the new Trump administration, Governor Houchul must go further to invest in the protections that will allow all families to remain and thrive in New York State. Albany must reaffirm its commitment to supporting all New Yorkers, no matter when they arrived here. This is especially true as Trump threatens to slash social services and pursue risky economic policies. New York’s working families are going to be hurting even more under our ongoing affordability crisis, despite Hochul’s rhetoric of building a liveable New York. Too many immigrant families – who work and pay taxes here – will not benefit from the proposals she is putting forward.
Now more than ever, New York needs more robust investments and commitments – at $165 million rather than $44 million – for immigration legal services and infrastructure, to ensure that the people powering our economy are not needlessly and cruelly separated from their families simply because they don’t have access to or cannot afford a lawyer. The expanded child tax credit is a great start, but the Working Families Tax Credit would go further in helping more families make ends meet. Language access is fundamental to being able to interact with government agencies, but the $2 million proposed investment must be raised to $10 million.
Additionally, wholly essential programs like Coverage 4 All and the Housing Access Voucher Program were completely unfunded, often making access to healthcare and housing for low-income immigrant New Yorkers unachievable.
As immigrant New Yorkers navigate daunting new realities, Albany must do more to create more inclusive and equitable opportunities to better support everyone who calls our state home.”