New York City Council members are demanding city taxpayers pay for defense attorneys for convicted criminal illegal aliens. The plan is reportedly being pushed by a foundation funded by billionaire George Soros.

Despite Mayor Bill de Blasio continuing his sanctuary city and open border policies, the Soros-linked group and city council members do not believe his plan does enough. Under de Blasio’s current plan, he is providing illegal aliens with more than $16 million of taxpayer money to pay for their lawyers, according to a New York Times article.

Approximately 27 of 51 city council members have sent a letter to de Blasio, asking him to follow the Soros-linked model provided by New York Immigrant Family Unity Project. The plan mandates that even convicted criminal illegal aliens receive taxpayer-funded attorneys.

“We want to step away from rhetoric that one person is more deserving than another in representation,” pro-sanctuary city Councilman Carlos Menchaca told the New York Times in an interview.

By not giving taxpayer-funded lawyers to convicted criminal illegal aliens, as the Soros group has modeled, the council members say de Blasio is practicing “exclusion.”

“We are concerned that the exclusion you propose will not only undermine our city’s commitment to due process for all but will also perpetuate the failures and racial disparities that pervade our criminal justice system,” the council members’ letter stated.

The organization behind the push to make American taxpayers pay for convicted criminal illegal aliens legal fees is funded by Soros and is a re-creation of the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), as Breitbart Texas reported.

The Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) created the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project to get progressive, sanctuary cities onboard with plans to pay for illegal aliens’ criminal defense attorneys.

Soros showered CPD with funds recently, as Breitbart Texas reported. In 2016, Soros’ Open Society Foundation gave CPD $705,000 in grants to “support efforts challenging anti-Muslim sentiment” and “support advocacy on access to economic opportunity.” In the First Quarter of 2017, Soros’ Open Society Foundation gave CPD another $150,000 to “support policy advocacy on access to economic opportunity.”

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.