NY pols push IRS to probe nonprofit ‘sanctuary' groups helping defy Trump, federal immigration laws
Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) and Claudia Tenney (R-Watertown) questioned the four groups' nonprofit status in a letter to the IRS after an expose by The Post that revealed the groups took in more than $600 million in public funds while simultaneously pushing New York's sanctuary policies.
'We are concerned that these organizations may be using tax-exempt resources to provide goods, services or legal advice that (1) encourages, (2), induce, or (3) aid and abet an alien in unlawfully entering, remaining in, or evading detection within the United States,' the lawmakers said in a Tuesday letter to IRS Commissioner William Hollis Long.
5 Reps. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) and Claudia Tenney (R-Watertown) have pleaded with the IRS to probe four nonprofit migrant advocacy groups that have been taking taxpayer funding.
Michael McWeeney
The pro-sanctuary groups — the Bronx Defenders, the NY Immigration Coalition, Make the Road NY and NY Lawyer for the Public Interest — provide legal services to poor New Yorkers, including criminal defendants and migrants.
They said based on prior IRS enforcement of rules for charitable groups the groups' sanctuary activities 'constitutes grounds for revocation of tax-exempt status.'
The Bronx Defenders alone has received more than $500 million in city and state contracts since fiscal year 2018, according to The Post review.
Make the Road NY was awarded $56 million, the NY Immigration Coalition $46 Million and NY Lawyers for the Public Interest, $19 million over the years.
The groups pushed for a statewide sanctuary bill — the New York for All Act — that would bar state and local law enforcement from cooperating with US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Bronx Defenders has fought to block ICE from operating at the Rikers Island jail complex and state courthouses.
5 The lawmakers sent a letter to IRS Commissioner William Hollis Long stating that the organizations are using the tax-exempt resources to possibly aid aliens who are staying in the United States unlawfully.
Tomas E. Gaston
5 The four pro-sanctuary groups mentioned are Bronx Defenders, NY Immigration Coalition, Make the Road NY, and NY Lawyer for the Public Interest.
X / @thenyic
The other groups similarly encourage clients or the public not to cooperate with ICE, said the letter from Malliotakis and Tenney, who are members of the House Ways and Means Committee.
They said IRS rules that grant groups tax-exempt status are for charitable, religious or educational purposes, 'not for groups that leverage taxpayer subsidized benefits to obstruct federal law.'
'Combined with federal tax-exempt benefits, these public subsidies shift the financial burden onto taxpayers who may oppose the recipients' efforts to shield removable aliens from enforcement,' the House members said.
5 The organizations all provide legal services to low-income New Yorkers, including migrants and criminal defendants.
X / @MaketheRoadNY
5 The majority of the migrant-advocacy groups have also encouraged their clients not to cooperate with ICE.
AP
They also noted President Trump's April 28, 2025, executive order that directs agencies to withhold funds from sanctuary jurisdictions such as New York City that restrict or refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The IRS, lawmakers said, should examine whether the pro-sanctuary groups' actions 'obstruct' federal immigration enforcement' or engage in 'unlawful advocacy.'
The lawmakers said 'we respectfully request that their tax-exempt status be revoked' if the IRS concludes they violated the rules.
The IRS declined to comment, citing privacy laws for tax-exempt organizations.
Representatives of the groups didn't respond to requests for comment.
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