In Times of Crisis, Support or Capacity Building is Key
By Patrick Hart, Associate Policy Director, and Sierra Kraft, Executive Director, ICARE Coalition
The following is an excerpt from an op-ed originally posted on The Imprint based on work from CUNY ISLG’s Grassroots Policy Incubator.
Earlier this year, pictures of a 5-year-old boy wearing a rabbit-eared hat and Spiderman backpack flooded the internet. As part of an undiscerning and violent immigration crackdown in Minnesota, ICE agents detained Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian, who had built a home with their family in Minneapolis after applying for asylum in late 2024.
The public backlash was swift. Public officials at every level of government got involved. The family got a lawyer. In little more than a week, a judge ordered the pair released and sent back home.
This quick release is not a typical story. ICE booked roughly3,800 minors into custody from January to October 2025, and as of May, there were more than 60,000 people in ICE custody overall. In this sea of need, legal counsel is difficult to find, especially as people in immigration court do not have a guaranteed right to an attorney. Across the county, 55% of people in immigration court do not have a lawyer. Here in New York, 36% do not.
Grassroots community organizations are increasingly becoming the lifeline for those facing immigration proceedings, particularly for minors who, unlike Liam, do not have immediate family members with them. In New York City, the Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort (ICARE) has connected unaccompanied minors with legal representation and other services since 2014. Without a lawyer, studies put the chances of these children winning deportation cases at just 15%. With support from ICARE’s network of lawyers, the more than 3,000 children they’ve represented have had a 90% success rate.
When that representation is successful, these children can stay in school, among their support systems, and in pursuit of a happy, healthy life in the communities they now call home.
The promise of quality counsel sparked one of the first investments made by the Grassroots Policy Incubator, launched in 2025 by the Institute for State & Local Governance at the City University of New York (CUNY ISLG) in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.