From 2005-2010, more than 7,000 U.S. citizen children in New York City lost a parent to deportation. For most of these families, deportation proceedings meant losing not only a loved one, but also a breadwinner.

In the wake of deportation, many remaining family members struggle to make ends meet, placing additional pressure on public support programs and, in the worst cases, leading to the placement of children in foster care. The estimated cost to NYC’s foster care system, for example, is $12.6 million a year.

To keep families together, CPD in partnership with the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights (NMCIR), and with the support of Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law School is advocating for the creation of the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project (NYIFUP).

NYIFUP would be the nation’s first government-funded deportation defense system, providing a system of representation for all New Yorkers who are detained and facing removal.

With NYIFUP, institutional legal service providers would be resourced to assist the estimated 2,800 New Yorkers who face permanent exile from their homes and families each year.

In time, NYIFUP would become a model for other jurisdictions that value immigrant families and want to end the destruction of local communities through mass deportation.

Stand with NY families:

- Endorse NYIFUP here

- Write an op-ed

- Send an organizational letter of support

- Help us find other potential partners

- Organize a public action

Email us to tell us how you'd like to support NYIFUP.