Advocates and elected officials rallied on the steps of City Hall on Oct. 6, demanding $15 million in city funding for legal services for LGBTQ immigrants, most of whom lack lawyers, they said.
More than 125 people braved the chilly fall weather outside, holding signs that read “City Hall, Don’t Drop The Ball– Fund $15M For All” and “Fund LGBTQ+ Immigrant Futures.” The rally opened with a moment of silence for Grace Detrevarah, a New York City trans advocate who died on Oct. 2, followed by remarks from various speakers.
The event, organized by the New York City Trans & Queer Coalition and the Caribbean Equality Project, called on city council and the mayor’s office to add the funding to the fiscal year 2027 budget. More than 50 organizations signed a request letter sent to Council Speaker Julie Menin on Sept. 23.
The proposal, the LGBTQ+ Immigrant Legal Services Fund, would split the $15 million evenly: $7.5 million for non-profit legal services for LGBTQ people, and $7.5 million for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to expand its services to LGBTQ immigrants.
“This fund would not only provide organizations in-house legal services, but it would also help hire social workers, mental health counselors, immigration navigators and interpreters to accompany our community members to a court hearing,” said Mohamed Q. Amin, founder of the Caribbean Equality Project, in an interview.
An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 LGBTQ immigrants live in New York City, and 60% to 70% lack access to legal services, according to the Caribbean Equality Project’s request letter. Amin said only 10% of the 650 immigrants the group serves have lawyers.
“For many of us who fled our home countries, where our existence is criminalized, we have fled persecution to find freedom here,” said Amin in his speech.
LGBTQ asylum seekers, who are already overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, also face slower processing times and approval rates than their straight counterparts, according to the Caribbean Equality Project’s proposal.
Advocates said the need has grown in recent months as the Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement. A New York City audit found that ICE arrested 5,567 individuals in the New York City area during the first 15 months of President Donald Trump’s second administration—a 71% increase—compared to the same time period at the end of the previous administration.
“Trans folks and immigrants are at the intersection of all of the federal government’s ugliness and hatred right now,” said Nadia Swanson, founder of the Trans & Queer Coalition, in an interview.
Amy Leipziger, project director and an attorney at Free to Be Youth Project, explained how urgent their work is. “About 65% of the clients that we serve right now have immigration needs and in the last 18 months their needs have skyrocketed,” she said, in an interview.
“It’s maddening to me as an attorney to bring a knife to a gunfight every time a young person walks through our doors,” said Leipziger during her speech.
Tiffany Jade Munroe, the Caribbean Equality Project’s trans justice manager, hosted the rally. She said the fund would help her directly. About 60% of the group’s staff are asylum seekers awaiting hearings, and she is one of them.
“I came to this country in 2019 fleeing years of emotional, physical violence and homelessness,” Monroe said, in her speech. “I personally understand how difficult it can be to navigate immigration systems while confronting transphobia, racism, housing insecurity, healthcare barriers and violence.”
Daniel J. Puerto, senior manager of community outreach and education at Unlocal, a nonprofit immigration legal services group, said fear keeps many people from seeking help.
“For many, many undocumented LGBTQ people, this fear puts them back in the closet, this fear deports them to a third country that they do not know. This fear causes death,” said Puerto during the rally.
City Council Member Amanda Farías, who chairs the council’s Committee on Women and Gender eEquity, was among the several elected officials who spoke in support of the fund.
“When someone comes to New York seeking safety from violence because of their sexuality or gender identity, every elected official should be asking ‘Can they reach an attorney?’ ‘Can they get help in the language they understand?’ ‘Can the organization they trust take their case?’” she said during the rally. “We have a responsibility to our nonprofit and grassroots counterparts to make sure that the answer is always a resounding ‘yes.’”
Swanson said the Caribbean Equality Project brought the idea to the coalition at the start of the year, and the two groups made it a top priority. Months of organizing included sending more than 13,000 letters to city council, holding press conferences, and having meetings with the mayor’s office.
“We’ve been screaming about this as a community forever,” Swanson said. “We really needed the allies to show up and they did today.”
Swanson said that the next opportunity for city council to approve the initiative is at the city council meeting on Oct. 22.
A spokesperson for Speaker Julie Menin declined to say whether Menin intends to support the initiative, but said that the Council will consider any new funding requests as part of the 2028 city budget process, beginning in early 2027.
“Speaker Menin proudly fought alongside her council colleagues to successfully secure $86.4 million in this year’s budget for immigration services, including legal services — the highest amount ever. The budget also allocates $5.2 million for LGBTQIA+ services,” the spokesperson said, in an email.