Despite recently testifying before Congress about her failures, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to carry on with policies that protect and prioritize illegal immigrants at the expense of taxpaying citizens.
On Tuesday, the Democratic governor, who has opened the state’s coffers to shell out billions for migrant housing and social services, offered $50 million to help with legal services and fees for illegals in the state who are arrested by ICE or facing deportation.
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, who grilled Hochul during the Congressional hearing, blasted her on X: “$50 MILLION of NYers hard earned taxpayer dollars are being used for illegal migrants’ legal fees because of Kathy Hochul’s illegals first, New Yorkers LAST failed leadership in NY. VOTE HER OUT.”
$50 MILLION of NYers hard earned taxpayer dollars are being used for illegals migrants legal fees because of Kathy Hochul’s illegals first, New Yorkers LAST failed leadership in NY.
VOTE HER OUT https://t.co/KZDHpLAhrk
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) June 18, 2025
Her announcement followed Tuesday’s arrest of New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, a Democratic Socialist, who linked arms with an illegal immigrant after an immigration hearing and tried to interfere with ICE agents.
“Walking out of this courthouse, taken away from their families, they don’t have the attention. They don’t have the lawyers,” Hochul said during a press conference. “And that’s why the State of New York is providing $50 million to cover legal services for people who are finding themselves in this situation.”
Federal agents were there to detain the illegal immigrant, but they also handcuffed Lander after he refused to let go and demanded they show a warrant. The hallway arrest quickly went viral as Lander was taken into custody by federal agents.
Lander was released a few hours later and appeared with Hochul who said the charges against him had been dropped, ABC 7 News reported.
During the press conference, Hochul said New York will provide $50 million as a line item in the state’s next budget to cover legal services for illegal immigrants in New York facing deportation, TrendingPolitics reported.
In defiance of President Trump’s deportation agenda, Democratic lawmakers and governors are digging in their heels, amplifying the political antics, and calling for organized resistance.
Hochul and other Democratic governors were recently called to testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing regarding their handling of the migrant crisis and their sanctuary state policies.
In one viral moment, Stefanik confronted Hochul over her executive order instructing state officials to ignore federal civil detainers.
In some cases, illegal immigrants were later released and went on to commit horrific crimes, including the high-profile case of Sebastian Zapeta-Calil, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, who set a woman on fire in the New York subway.
In February, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of New York and Hochul, over alleged resistance to supporting the Donald Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, in particular the state’s Green Light Law, ABC 7 News reported.
According to a State Comptroller report, the 2025-26 Executive Budget Financial Plan indicates the state plans to spend $4.3 billion between State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2022-23 through SFY 2025-26 for emergency spending related to people seeking asylum in the United States.
In fiscal years 2023 and 2024, New York City spent $4.8 billion, according to the NYC.gov. Projections for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 estimate a combined cost of $9.1 billion, according to Bloomberg.com.
Hochul’s list of support for illegal immigrants is long, especially when it comes to funding for New York City’s migrant crisis.
In 2024, The New York Post reported the Big Apple was set to get $2.4 billion from Hochul for the crisis, a $500 million increase from the $1.9 billion allocated by the state to ease the migrant strain on the city in fiscal year 2024.
But in an interesting twist, comptroller Lander has criticized the mismanagement of funds for migrant services, saying New York City paid millions for unnecessary services, CBS News reported in August 2024.
Lander questioned a $432 million no-bid contract that the city awarded, over the comptroller’s objections, to DocGo, a company that at the time had no experience providing migrant services. According to the audit, under the city’s contract with DocGo, the city paid for some 10,000 hotel rooms in New York City and Upstate New York that were never used.
This is the same Hochul who also deployed over 2,000 National Guard members to work with illegal immigrants, including 250 National Guard personnel assigned to full-time Case Management Services, according to a 2023 news release from her office.
New York National Guard personnel helped staff 51 hotels and two New York City Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Centers.
The state also forked out $50 million for case management, including assisting asylum seekers and migrants with the proper paperwork to attain legal work status and “get them established here so they can work and start making their American Dream a reality,” she said in the release.
