{"id":474935,"date":"2025-07-11T13:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T17:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/uncategorized\/new-york-opens-free-legal-aid-office-for-those-who-cannot-afford-a-lawyer\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:40:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T17:40:00","slug":"new-york-opens-free-legal-aid-office-for-those-who-cannot-afford-a-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/international\/new-york-opens-free-legal-aid-office-for-those-who-cannot-afford-a-lawyer\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Opens Free Legal Aid Office for Those Who Cannot Afford a Lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<em>New York.-<\/em>\u00a0In an unprecedented step towards equitable access to justice, the City of New York announced this Thursday the official creation of a\u00a0<strong>Pro Bono Legal Assistance Office<\/strong>, a new municipal entity that will connect low-income residents with free legal resources, available in the city&#8217;s five boroughs.\n\n\n<p>The central goal of this office is to offer a reliable way for thousands of New Yorkers \u2014including immigrants, victims of domestic violence, people threatened with eviction, or workers who have suffered wage theft\u2014 to&nbsp;<strong>access legal representation at no cost<\/strong>&nbsp;, in cases where they cannot afford a private attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n&#8220;This city was built with the hard work of immigrants, workers, and dreamers. Today we reaffirm that no one will be alone in a judicial process just because they cannot afford a lawyer,&#8221; declared <strong>Mayor Eric Adams<\/strong>, when announcing the initiative.\n\n\n<p>Unlike other agencies, the new Pro Bono Legal Assistance Office&nbsp;<strong>will not directly offer legal representation<\/strong>&nbsp;, but will operate as&nbsp;<strong>a referral and information center<\/strong>&nbsp;, streamlining the contact between people in need and pro bono lawyers from the private sector, university law clinics, non-profit organizations and government-sponsored programs.<\/p>\n\n\nThe project is part of the <strong>new municipal budget for Fiscal Year 2026<\/strong>, which includes a record investment of <strong>$121 million in legal services for immigrants<\/strong>, the highest figure allocated by any city in the U.S. in this category.\n\nOf that amount, <strong>$76.3 million<\/strong> is specifically directed to the provision of free legal assistance, and almost <strong>$42 million<\/strong> will be allocated to representation in deportation cases and immigration procedures. Another <strong>$12 million<\/strong> will be channeled to pro bono lawyers who will support <strong>unaccompanied minors<\/strong> in judicial processes.\n\n<strong>Manuel Castro<\/strong>&nbsp;, commissioner of the Mayor&#8217;s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), made it clear that the opening of this new office is a firm response to the climate of uncertainty that many immigrant families in New York are experiencing.\n\n&#8220;We understand the fear that many people with irregular immigration status feel, especially in times of national political tension. But we want to remind them that this is a sanctuary city, and that neither our police nor our agencies collaborate with ICE,&#8221; Castro affirmed.\n\nThe new office will work&nbsp;<strong>closely with MOIA<\/strong>&nbsp;to coordinate information campaigns and ensure that the community knows its rights and knows how to act if it interacts with federal authorities.\n\nCastro also highlighted that <strong>more than 1.3 million New Yorkers are not U.S. citizens<\/strong>, and that <strong>600,000 people have lived in the city for more than 15 years in an irregular migratory condition<\/strong>. &#8220;This service is born for them, so that they can defend their rights without fear,&#8221; he emphasized.\n\nAlthough the office has already been formally announced, the authorities ask for patience while its operational structure is completed and its services are disseminated among the most vulnerable communities.\n\n&#8220;Don&#8217;t be swayed by rumors on social media. This program is here to help, not to spy or control. Take your children to school, call the police if you are a victim of a crime, and don&#8217;t stop going to the hospital if you have an emergency. Your rights are still protected,&#8221; insisted Commissioner Castro.\n\nThe&nbsp;<strong>Pro Bono Legal Assistance Office<\/strong>&nbsp;is expected to be fully operational by the end of the summer, and will be key in a city where inequality in access to justice has historically been an invisible barrier for millions.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York.-\u00a0In an unprecedented step towards equitable access to justice, the City of New York announced this Thursday the official creation of a\u00a0Pro Bono Legal Assistance Office, a new municipal entity that will connect low-income residents with free legal resources, available in the city&#8217;s five boroughs. The central goal of this office is to offer [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133553,"featured_media":474936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-474935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international"},"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-07-11-at-7.08.05-PM.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-1Zyf","dum_api":{"author_name":"F\u00e9lix Abad","author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39a5ff177de98dc8653e5d28809b69198fa14b4bbfcdb4c999b34fe6646cd495?s=96&d=mm&r=g","categories_name":["International"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-07-11-at-7.08.05-PM.jpeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}