Anticipating a wave of asylum seekers en route to New York by bus from Texas, Florida and Arizona, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-Manhattan and Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, D-Queens, introduced an amended Access to Representation Act, S81B/A1961.

The bill, which would be the first of its kind in the United States, aims to create a right to an attorney for any New Yorker facing deportation who cannot afford to hire one, regardless of whether he or she has been in the Empire State for decades or is a new arrival.