St. Paul still has $300,000 parked for immigration-related legal help, and weeks after federal enforcement activity started to die down, not a dollar has moved. City Attorney Irene Kao says that is intentional, describing the effort as “a marathon, not a sprint” while her office figures out how to stretch the money for residents’ long-term legal needs.
When the City Council signed off on the 2026 budget in December, it shifted $300,000 into the Immigrant and Refugee Program, earmarking $175,000 for immigration legal defense and $125,000 for naturalization assistance, according to the City of Saint Paul. The cash came from unspent money in the Office of Neighborhood Safety and now appears in the City Attorney’s Office 2026 adopted budget notes.
Why the money hasn't moved
So why is the fund still untouched? In part because the contract St. Paul had used to send payments to nonprofit legal-aid groups expired in October 2025, leaving the city without an easy way to quickly push the money out. City Attorney Irene Kao told reporters her office is working on how the funding can do the most good over time, focusing on immigrants’ longer-term legal needs, according to the Star Tribune.
How the city could use the fund
Kao’s team is weighing a few paths. Options on the table include signing new agreements with nonprofit legal-aid partners, hiring in-house immigration legal staff, or splitting the money between deportation-defense support and naturalization help. City immigration resources and budget materials outline the goals of the program and the city’s role in connecting residents with legal services, reflecting the same set of possibilities.
Regional context and timing
The funding decision arrives in the shadow of Operation Metro Surge, a large federal enforcement deployment in the Twin Cities that sparked legal pushback from state and local leaders and court orders intended to protect detainees’ access to attorneys. The Minnesota attorney general and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul filed a federal lawsuit and related court papers, while federal judges and news outlets documented the legal and operational fallout. For more on those challenges and rulings, see reporting and releases from the Minnesota Attorney General’s office and AP News.
Advocates warn time matters
During the raids and their aftermath, community groups filled gaps with mutual aid, covering everything from emergency legal consults to rent for families suddenly missing a breadwinner. Those stopgap dollars are already thinning out, and advocates say that puts more pressure on city money to step in. Reporting on slowing mutual-aid donations and short-term relief shows organizers calling for faster city contracting so families facing deportation or eviction do not hit a financial wall, per Axios.
City officials told the Star Tribune they still expect to spend the full $300,000 before the end of 2026. Advocates and immigration attorneys counter that delays can leave people exposed in the meantime, especially those already in removal proceedings or on the brink of losing housing. For now, the allocation sits ready while St. Paul decides whether to rebuild a contract pipeline, add staff, or chart a new model for long-term legal support.
Legal notes
Separate from the budget moves, St. Paul has also adopted policy and legal measures aimed at limiting federal immigration enforcement activity on city property and protecting residents, signaling that officials are using both legal tools and public dollars in response to recent operations. Local coverage and city announcements have tracked those steps and the broader immigrant-support strategy, with earlier reporting on rallies and the city’s legal posture providing additional context.
