Leading New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani vowed to increase funding for deportation defense by more than $100 million dollars.
Under his plan titled “Trump-Proofing NYC,” a Mamdani administration would “increase funding for immigration legal services to provide representation for people and communities targeted by mass deportation.” Mamdani intends to invest $165 million for migrant defense services, including $25 million for the Rapid Response Legal Collaborative program, $30 million for the New York Immigrant Family Unit Program (NYIFUP), and $40 million for the Immigrant Opportunity Initiative.
“The Mamdani administration will take seriously the threat Trump poses and will think expansively about ways to protect undocumented New Yorkers from deportation or other federal attacks,” the proposal says.
Mamdani affirmed the plan during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Weekend: Primetime,” explaining that a “cornerstone of our campaign is to increase funding for those very legal defense services by more than $100 million so that we can ensure we’re taking every step we can to keep New Yorkers safe, to keep New Yorkers together, and to show the world that they are welcome in this city.”
Other policies included in the proposal aim to raise the minimum wage to $30, strengthen the city’s abortion access, and “tax the wealthiest 1 percent of earners an additional 2 percent.”
According to a Siena Research/NY Times survey, Mamdani leads former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo 48 to 44 in a hypothetical two-man race. The poll also showed Mamdani crushing current Mayor Eric Adams 55 to 35 in a head-to-head contest.
