Carnegie and Ford Plan to Foot Entire Bill for Cuomo's Public-Private Legal Defense Fund For Immigrants
On Friday, the administration finally unveiled the program, now called the Liberty Defense Fund. According to the press release, the initiative would spend “more than $1 Million” in “Public and Private investment” to “provide services to meet the urgent legal needs” of New York immigrants. In fact, the program is budgeted at $1 million and the money comes from two private foundations, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Foundation.
The Fund will work with some 182 “advocacy organizations and legal entities,” according to the announcement “to provide pro bono legal and additional resources for immigrants threatened by recent changes in immigration policies.”
At present, there will be no large public funds directed exclusively towards the program—the “public-private” set-up refers to the fact that the foundation money will be administered by the state’s Office for New Americans...