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As Congress remains gridlocked by the partisan wrangling over the issue of illegal immigration, New York City this week approved two separate plans that advocates say could signal a sea change in the ways cities handle undocumented workers and their families.

On Wednesday, the New York City Council earmarked $4.9 million of the city budget to give legal assistance to foreign-born New York residents facing deportation. This makes New York the first city in the US to provide lawyers for low-income immigrants detained by federal authorities. The city will provide such aid both for undocumented immigrants and for those with legal residency.

And on Thursday, the City Council voted to create a new municipal ID program for all who live within its five boroughs, following the lead of cities such as New Haven, Conn., San Francisco, and Los Angeles 鈥� each with large immigrant populations 鈥� to give any resident the documentation needed to open a bank account, sign a lease, or even get a library card. The measure passed 43 to 3, with three abstentions.

Though available to anyone, these municipal IDs are especially helpful for undocumented immigrants, who often must carry cash, leading thieves to casually label vulnerable immigrants as 鈥淎TMs.鈥�

"Every New Yorker deserves an official identification that allows them to prove who they are and access core services," said Mayor Bill de Blasio,听听

"The municipal ID is more than just a card 鈥� it provides New Yorkers who are currently living in the shadows with dignity and peace of mind," he added.

This week鈥檚 measures come as the country faces a surge in the numbers of unaccompanied minors crossing the southern border, most from Central America, experts say. Republican critics say many of these young immigrants by the Obama administration鈥檚 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the 2012 policy that suspends deportation for any children brought to the country illegally before 2007 and under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012.

But New York鈥檚 new measures are designed mostly to benefit undocumented immigrants with families. Since last year, New York has already been experimenting with a pilot program to help any immigrant avoid deportation, earmarking $500,000 for the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project. This week鈥檚 budget deal funds the project in full.

The project was meant 鈥渢o ensure that no New York City family is torn apart, has a loved one locked up and deported, simply because they can鈥檛 afford an attorney,鈥� says Peter Markowitz, a professor at Cardozo Law School and director of its Immigration Justice Clinic in Manhattan.

Immigrants facing deportation do not have a right to legal counsel, and about 60 percent of the deportation cases in New York and New Jersey do not have adequate representation, experts say. As a result, 97 percent of these immigrants are deported, even though they had legal options available to them.

鈥淚f you were detained and unrepresented, it was virtually impossible to win your case,鈥� says Professor Markowitz, who chaired the steering committee that led to New York鈥檚 program providing funds for detainees. 鈥淲hen you add lawyers to the mix, it can improve people鈥檚 chances of success by as much as 1,000 percent.鈥�

Detention and deportation devastate the family structures of immigrants, . The committee had been convened in 2010 by Second Circuit Judge Robert Katzmann, who heard the final appeals of all deportation cases.

鈥淎s his docket swelled, what he saw over and over again was, frankly, people being deported who should not be deported,鈥� says Markowitz. 鈥淏ut because they either didn鈥檛 have a lawyer, or had a very poor lawyer ... the circuit court couldn鈥檛 rectify the situation, and he became frustrated with the systemic injustice that he was seeing.鈥� Most of these immigrants were undocumented, but legal residents also lacked representation.

As a result, each year more than 2,000 children of immigrants experienced the trauma of having a parent arrested, detained, and possibly deported. The cost of legal counsel, the study found, was nearly 10 times less than the cost of providing services for these children, after the deportation of a parent.

New York鈥檚 project has sparked similar legal efforts in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Boston. 鈥淸There鈥檚] potential for New York to catalyze a sea change in the quality of justice afforded to immigrants across the country,鈥� Markowitz says.

Though the new city-issued IDs are also designed to help immigrants receive needed services, they have been controversial among both immigrant advocates and critics. They risk becoming obvious 鈥渟carlet letters鈥� for undocumented workers and their families if other residents don鈥檛 adopt them 鈥� problems other cities have faced since New Haven became the first city to adopt municipal IDs in 2007.

鈥淭his has got to be a New York City ID card that everybody, not just undocumented immigrants, not just day laborers in Queens, but hipsters in Brooklyn and all sorts of folks are going to be able to get,鈥� said Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition,听.