A core staff of five. That is the size of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the small City Hall unit charged with coordinating services for a population in which nearly 40% of New Yorkers are foreign-born — and at a March 25, 2026 City Council budget hearing, members and the public advocate argued that is nowhere near enough as federal immigration enforcement intensifies.

The numbers

The office, led by Commissioner Faiza Ali, has five staff of its own, supplemented by roughly 59 personnel spread across other city departments. Its direct budget is about $782,000, sitting within a broader $42.3 million the city allocated for immigration services in fiscal year 2026.

Set against the scale of demand, those figures became the hearing’s flashpoint. New York is home to roughly three million immigrants, undocumented workers in the state contribute an estimated $3.1 billion in taxes annually, and the enforcement environment has shifted sharply. ICE street arrests rose by more than 2,000 in the first six months of the Trump administration — a 212% surge — compared with the final six months under President Biden, according to figures cited at the hearing.

The case for more

Council Member Elsie Encarnacion, who chairs the Immigration Committee, pressed the case most directly, arguing the city needs a dedicated, standalone immigration agency rather than a small office buried inside City Hall. “How can we expect an office to meet our immigrant communities’ growing need, when it lacks sufficient centralized personnel?” she asked.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams pushed on a related front, calling for “robust funding of immigrant legal services” — the deportation-defense and know-your-rights programs that have become front-line resources as ICE activity climbs. Williams has been one of the most vocal city officials on immigration enforcement, testifying for stronger sanctuary protections and joining protests against ICE operations at immigration courts.

Former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito added a structural critique, highlighting how immigration services are fragmented across multiple agencies rather than centralized — a duplication that advocates say wastes capacity and leaves gaps.

The budget context

The hearing was part of the Council’s review of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s preliminary budget, the opening round of negotiations toward an adopted fiscal 2027 plan. Mamdani, who took office January 1, 2026, has signed an executive order reaffirming the city’s immigrant protections and has positioned his administration as a defender of sanctuary policy — but the question at the hearing was whether that posture would be matched with staffing and dollars in the budget.

The fight over the immigrant-affairs office runs parallel to the city’s other immigration battles. In January, the Council enacted the Safer Sanctuary Act over a veto, barring ICE from Department of Correction land including Rikers. City officials have also pressed Albany to pass the New York for All Act, a statewide limit on local cooperation with ICE. The office-staffing debate is the budgetary version of the same argument: whether New York’s stated commitments to immigrants are backed by the capacity to deliver on them.

What to watch

The markers will appear in the adopted budget before July 1: whether the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs gets more staff and money, whether immigrant legal services see a funding bump, and whether the Council’s push for a standalone agency gains traction or stalls. The gap between the preliminary numbers and the final ones will show how far the administration is willing to go.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

How small is the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs?
Its core staff is five people, led by Commissioner Faiza Ali, with roughly 59 additional personnel spread across other city departments. The office's own budget is about $782,000, within a total of $42.3 million for immigration services in fiscal year 2026.
Who is calling for more?
Council Member Elsie Encarnacion, chair of the Immigration Committee, advocated for a dedicated standalone agency. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams called for 'robust funding of immigrant legal services.' Former Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito highlighted the fragmentation of immigration services across agencies.
What is driving the urgency?
ICE street arrests in the first six months of the Trump administration rose by more than 2,000 — a 212% surge — compared with the final six months of the Biden administration, according to figures cited at the hearing. Nearly 40% of New York City's population is foreign-born.
When did this come up?
At the City Council's preliminary budget hearing on March 25, 2026, as part of negotiations over Mayor Zohran Mamdani's fiscal 2027 budget.