Update, 4/23/26: Negotiations between the Governor and Legislative leaders on a package of proposals to protect immigrant New Yorkers from federal immigration enforcement actions have taken center stage in recent days. On April 16, Governor Hochul released a proposal that includes expanded sensitive location protections which prohibit all state, local, and school employees from permitting immigration authorities access to any non-public area of a state-owned or operated facility without a judicial warrant. Schuyler Center welcomes the proposal’s extension of protections to privately-owned and operated sensitive locations, including child care programs, hospitals, schools, housing accommodations, and houses of worship—spaces where families must be able to access critical services without fear.
We are concerned that the governor’s proposal on local law enforcement coordination with federal immigration authorities does not go far enough to protect New York children and families.
The proposal would still allow significant cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agents by authorizing local law enforcement to report a New Yorker to federal immigration upon a determination of “probable cause” that they committed a crime. Probable cause determinations are subjective, and can be susceptible to racial and other biases. This proposal would leave many New Yorkers at risk of being turned over to immigration enforcement and separated from their families before they have their day in court, particularly those in communities in which local law enforcement has pre-existing agreements with immigration enforcement.
We applaud New York leaders for making protecting immigrant New Yorkers a top priority, and we urge them to enact a strong final package that includes the full protections of the New York for All Act.
More than 1.4 million children in New York State live in immigrant families. That’s more than 1.5 times the size of the entire New York City public school system, the largest in the country. An estimated 324,400 New York children live with at least one undocumented family member. These are children in our classrooms, our child care programs, our communities.
With increased immigration enforcement activity and ICE presence in communities across the nation, and here in New York State, many of these children face the unthinkable reality of being separated from a parent, grandparent, sibling, or other family members. In most cases, they don’t know where their family member is or if they will return home.
The impacts of family separation on children are devastating and lasting: long-term health and psychological harm, significant income loss, and, in the most acute cases, children entering the foster care system. But the harm doesn’t just begin at the moment of detention or deportation. The chilling effect of enforcement is keeping families away from the programs and benefits they’re entitled to—pulling back from schools, health care, food assistance, and community life. When caregivers live in fear, children pay the price.
New York State has the power to change this, and we need our leaders to act now.
The New York for All Act (S.2235A Gounardes/A.3506A Reyes) would direct state and local officials to refrain from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity or sharing sensitive information, including data, with federal authorities, except where explicitly required by federal law. It would also prohibit federal immigration officers from entering non-public areas of state and local property—including DMVs and social services offices—without a judicial warrant. This matters because fear of encountering immigration enforcement in the very spaces where families seek food, health care, and support is what keeps people away from services they need and to which they are entitled.
New Yorkers need the State to pass legislation that clearly precludes local governments from engaging in federal immigration enforcement activity and prohibits federal agents from accessing non-public government spaces or sharing personal data. We need the full New York for All Act, not a partial version that leaves too many doors open.
Passing New York for All is essential, but it can’t stand alone. Unlike in criminal proceedings, immigrants facing deportation have no guaranteed right to an attorney, meaning parents and caregivers are forced to navigate a complicated legal system alone. The data is stark: non-detained individuals without legal representation are 2.5 times more likely to be removed than those with representation. We urge Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie to pass both the Access to Representation Act (A.270 Cruz) and the BUILD Act (S.4538 Liu/A.2689 Cruz)—assuring that no immigrant New Yorker faces that system without support, regardless of their ability to pay.
Keeping families together is a moral imperative and an investment in the health, stability, and future of New York’s children. Every day without action is another day families live in fear.
All children and families in New York—no matter their income, race, immigration status, or the community in which they live—should have access to nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and cultural traditions, fortifying them to lead healthy, active lives.
The Challenge
Too many New York families struggle to put food on the table. In 2023, roughly 1 in 5 New York children (19%) experienced food insecurity—meaning they sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat.1 Experiencing hunger as a child can have lasting impacts, including an increased risk of obesity and developmental and mental health challenges.2 The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)— the nation’s largest and most effective anti-hunger program—was subject to federal funding cuts and administrative changes beginning at the end of 2025. The changes are expected to cause more New Yorkers, including children, to endure hunger.
What We Know
Child hunger in New York is common and widespread
Lack of access to adequate food affects children across the state, in urban, rural, and suburban communities. Some counties face disproportionate rates of food insecurity—particularly Bronx and Kings counties, which have some of the highest populations of Black and Latino residents. Across the state, food insecurity occurs disproportionately along racial lines: 26% of Hispanic New Yorkers, 25% of Black New Yorkers, and 9% of white New Yorkers reported food insecurity.3
SNAP benefits are being reduced or eliminated for many.
In New York, SNAP provides nearly 3 million people— about 1 in 7 New Yorkers—with nutritional assistance, totaling $7.35 billion in benefits in 2024. More than 52% of SNAP participants are in families with children.4 Despite a large body of evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of SNAP in increasing food security and improving health outcomes, the federal government recently imposed federal funding cuts and policy changes expected to cause hundreds of thousands of New York families to experience a reduction or elimination of their benefits.
A growing number of immigrant families are barred from SNAP.
Federal law has long excluded many immigrant families from participating in SNAP due to their immigration status, including roughly 64,600 New York families with children in 2024 who were income-eligible but excluded from SNAP due to their immigration status.6 With the passage of the July 2025 federal tax and budget reconciliation bill—H.R. 1—an additional 41,000 lawfully present refugees, asylees, and other immigrant New Yorkers are expected to be newly excluded from SNAP.
Demand for WIC consistently outpaces funding.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a federal program designed to ensure expecting parents, infants, and young children have access to sufficient food and other supports. WIC has been shown to improve health outcomes and alleviate food insecurity at critical moments in a child’s development.10 While a growing percentage of eligible residents are enrolled in WIC, nearly 40% of eligible New Yorkers are still not participating due to a lack of awareness, administrative barriers, and limited funded capacity.11
To increase participation, New York strategically implemented a federal waiver that allows participants to attend WIC appointments virtually, including regular health and nutrition check-ins, dramatically improving accessibility. However, due in part to the success of this approach, many WIC sites across the state now operate beyond their funded capacity. This leaves local programs struggling to meet demand, see clients in a timely manner, and retain necessary staff
State Policy Solutions
Invest state funds to make food benefits available to all income-eligible residents regardless of immigration status or ability to meet work reporting requirements.
Provide resources to transition SNAP benefits to a secure chip card to prevent the theft of SNAP benefits.
Engage in outreach and support to ensure young people formerly in foster care and others newly subject to SNAP work reporting requirements can meet them.
Increase state funding for WIC to help local programs serve more children and families.
Address the underlying causes of food insecurity among New York’s children by undertaking systemic changes that put more money in families’ pockets, such as raising the minimum wage, strengthening the state child tax credit, and implementing universal child care
On January 14, Schuyler Center’s policy team presented the latest data and policy recommendations around child and family well-being in New York State (see photos below).
Schuyler Center’s annual State of New York’s Children Data Bookprovides a data snapshot of the well-being of New York’s children and families and the challenges New York families are facing. Having good data is imperative to identifying the right policy solutions.
In 2023, approximately 731,672 New York children, over 18%, experienced poverty, compared to 16% nationally.
New York State ranks 40th in the nation for child poverty.
Public school students experiencing homelessness has increased 22%, with over 138,000 students experiencing homelessness.
The 2021 pandemic expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit dramatically and quickly cut child poverty nearly in half nationally and in New York State. When that expansion and other pandemic supports ended, child poverty rates resurged and surpassed pre-pandemic rates.
Child care is the largest monthly bill for many families, costing an average of:
$3,000/month for an infant and a 4-year-old in a child care center ($35,999 per year)
$1,365/month for an infant in family- based child care ($16,383 per year)
$2,200/month for two school-age children in family-based afterschool care ($26,634 per year)
The average wage for a child care worker in New York $37,970/annual / $18.26/hour in May 2023.
Family child care educators earned less than minimum wage, approximately $10.49/ hour in 2021.
According to the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, approximately 129,000 children received child care assistance in July 2024. In contrast, there are more than one million New York children eligible for child care assistance.
The percentage of Medicaid-Enrolled New York children who had at least one dental visit within the last year exceeded 50% just once in the last decade.
76%(96,641) of reports filed with the Statewide Central Register in 2023 were unfounded.
Public schools are starting instruction this month, leaving millions of working parents across New York confronting the question of how they will balance job responsibilities with caring for and supporting the education of their school-aged children who are receiving instruction remotely on a full or part-time basis. At the same time, parents are struggling to secure or maintain access to safe, quality child care for their infants, toddlers, and pre-school-aged children. Schools cannot successfully reopen without public infrastructure to make sure families have access to affordable and flexible child care and afterschool care. Paid family leave that is responsive to the likelihood of sudden short, or long-term school or child care closures is also needed.
On January 15th, Schuyler Center policy staff gathered with over 60 legislators, legislative and agency staff, and other friends and partners to talk about the State of New York’s children. Read about and see our data and the policy priorities we think are critical to improving the lives of all children in New York.
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