- Boston residents voted to create a $400,000 Immigrant Legal Defense Fund through the 2026 participatory budgeting process.
- Mayor Michelle Wu framed the fund as part of a resident-driven focus on housing, workforce, and immigration support.
- The project complements $5 million in state funding allocated by Massachusetts for low-income immigrants facing deportation proceedings.
(BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS) — Boston residents voted to create an Immigrant Legal Defense Fund in the city’s 2026 participatory budgeting process, directing city money to immigration legal services as one of eight winning proposals selected by the public.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration secured $400,000 for the fund through the vote, with the money intended to support legal services for immigrants, including needs tied to removal and deportation defense.
Public voting ended February 15, 2026, and city departments are expected to begin implementing the resident-selected projects in spring 2026.
Wu framed the results as a reflection of what residents want city government to deliver. “The projects selected this year reflect our communities’ focus on housing stability, immigration support, workforce opportunity, youth empowerment, small business growth, and climate resilience,” Wu said.
Alongside the Immigrant Legal Defense Fund, residents also elevated proposals that included housing stability assistance and workforce training as top priorities, according to the city’s summary of the winning projects.
The participatory budgeting allocation sits inside a larger package of non-recurring community project funding in the city’s operating budget, a structure the administration points to as it balances one-time investments with ongoing spending needs.
Boston’s FY2026 operating budget, filed April 9, 2025, totals $4.8 billion and increases 4.4% over FY2025, according to the budget documents cited by the city. The plan emphasizes stability as officials cite federal funding uncertainty.
Within that overall budget picture, the participatory budgeting money for the Immigrant Legal Defense Fund comes from a $2.2 million allocation from the city’s operating budget for non-recurring community projects, a pool the city uses to fund resident-directed initiatives.
Budget documents do not describe a dedicated city line item for immigrant legal aid outside the participatory budgeting allocations, and they do not mention a dedicated “immigration office.” Instead, immigrant protections appear integrated into broader participatory budgeting and services described in the documents.
The broader FY2026 plan also eliminates nearly 500 vacant positions and cuts non-personnel spending, while allocating 38.7% to education and $1.2 billion in capital for schools, according to the city’s budget materials.
City officials have portrayed the participatory budgeting program as a way for residents to steer a limited portion of city dollars toward community needs, while the administration continues to set the bulk of spending through the standard budget process.
Renato Castelo, director of the Office of Participatory Budgeting, oversees execution of the winning proposals in collaboration with an External Oversight Board and city departments, a structure the city says is meant to ensure equity and accessibility as projects move from ballot to delivery.
Under the city’s administrative setup, the Office of Participatory Budgeting manages the process and coordination, while the departments responsible for the relevant service areas are expected to operationalize the projects residents choose, including work tied to the Immigrant Legal Defense Fund.
The initiative traces back to earlier milestones that started with a 2021 ballot measure and later continued with a 2023 ordinance establishing the office, according to the city’s description of the program’s origins.
That governance structure, city officials say, is meant to provide oversight as projects shift from ideas into programs that residents can access, with the External Oversight Board and departments involved in monitoring delivery.
While Boston moves to launch the new Immigrant Legal Defense Fund under its participatory budgeting framework, Massachusetts has also built parallel support for immigration legal services through its state budget.
Massachusetts’ FY2026 budget, passed June 30, 2025, includes $5 million for immigration legal services, administered by the Office of Refugees and Immigrants, with nonprofit groups delivering the services to low-income immigrants facing deportation.
The state funding prioritizes detained individuals, and the budget description links representation to better outcomes in removal proceedings, including a claim that represented immigrants are 10 times more likely to win relief.
Rep. Frank Moran (D-Lawrence), Rep. David Rogers (D-Cambridge), and Sen. Adam Gomez (D-Springfield) championed the state’s immigration legal services funding, according to the state-level description provided in the budget summary.
Supporters of these programs, at both the city and state levels, have emphasized that demand for legal representation can rise as enforcement pressures increase and as families face the prospect of removal proceedings.
In Boston, city leaders have tied the new Immigrant Legal Defense Fund and other resident-selected investments to a wider set of concerns about immigration enforcement and its effects on immigrant communities.
Wu’s budget also prepares for potential cuts to Boston’s $300 million annual federal aid, a figure cited by city officials as they describe the risks federal uncertainty poses for local planning.
City Councilor Brian Worrell pointed to the political climate and the need to protect the city’s character as those pressures build. He highlighted priorities like protecting diversity amid national crackdowns.
The combination of federal uncertainty and enforcement concerns has helped frame why Boston officials have leaned on both standard budget planning and community-directed allocations like participatory budgeting, even as the city does not list a standalone line item for immigrant legal aid outside that resident-driven process.
With voting concluded, Boston officials now shift to execution, with implementation set to begin in spring 2026 under relevant city departments.
Residents and service providers can expect the next phase to center on departmental scoping of the selected projects, followed by procurement or partner selection where needed, and then the development of public-facing information about how people can access services tied to the winning proposals.
The Immigrant Legal Defense Fund now moves into that pipeline as one of eight resident-selected projects, positioned as a city-level addition to a broader local-state response to demand for immigration legal services, including the Massachusetts funding administered through the Office of Refugees and Immigrants.
