ONA Upstate Immigration Court Extension

The New York State Office for New Americans (ONA or NY ONA) will be extending the current ONA Upstate Immigration Court contracts for an additional six months, with the new contract dates as 1/1/26 to 6/30/26. With this extension, NY ONA is also seeking to amend the scope of the work of service territory for its current NY ONA Upstate Immigration Court grantees to ensure that the program is meeting the urgent needs of detained immigrants given rapid changes in federal immigration policy impacting the service areas for this program. NY ONA is seeking to expand the service territory of the ONA Upstate Immigration Court program to include the ability to help New York state residents removed by federal immigration officials and placed into detention centers outside of New York to await an immigration court hearing located elsewhere. Out of the control of New York state, New Yorkers are currently detained in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere and facing removal proceedings in other states. Those respective states are unable to assist New Yorkers because those states do not offer free immigration legal services, or they do not allow out-of- state residents to qualify for their services. It is in the best interest for New York state to expand the scope of service territory immediately so grantees of the Upstate Immigration Court program can still assist New Yorkers detained elsewhere, otherwise New Yorkers will be unrepresented. As the current four contracts with the grantees under the ONA Upstate Immigration Court program will end on 12/31/2025, NY ONA is planning for a new Request for Applications (RFA) procurement to include this expanded scope of service territory. An extension will give NY ONA time to modify the new RFA based on new needs of New Yorkers and time for the RFA to be reviewed for approval. In the new RFA, NY ONA will seek organizations within New York State to provide free legal services to immigrants detained in New York state and elsewhere for their immigration court hearings. To prevent any gaps in services between the current NY ONA Upstate Immigration Court program and the new RFA grant, NY ONA is extending all four grantees providing services under the current contract to receive an additional six months of funding based on current funding levels and adjusted for the additional time. The following organizations will receive the above mentioned 6-month extension: Erie County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, Inc; Prisoners' Legal Services of New York; New York Legal Assistance Group, Inc; and Immigrant Justice Corp.