Mamdani pledges to spend $100M more for free lawyers to help migrants facing deportation

Taxpayers will pick up an additional $100 million tab for illegal migrants facing deportation, Democratic Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani pledges, calling it a “cornerstone” of his campaign. “Four hundred thousand of our residents are right now in urgent risk of deportation,” the socialist lamented on MSNBC “The Weekend,” adding fewer than 200 of them received access to free lawyers last year. The city’s 2026 budget, passed in June, already includes $54.5 million to fight deportation orders in court on the taxpayer’s dime – “more than any other major city in America,” Mayor Eric Adams has said.