Group of State Lawmakers Vow to Protect ‘Dreamers’

By RADHIKA VISWANATHAN

We are your friends.

That’s the message that some New York State politicians want to convey to their immigrant constituents.

“The immigrant community is under attack [due to] policies emanating from the federal government,” said Bronx Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda, at a press conference on the steps of City Hall on Thursday. “It seems like the current president wants to blame all the evils and wrongs that are happening in this country on immigrants.”

The assemblyman, along with other politicians and immigrant advocate groups, announced his sponsorship of three bills that would get Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take his support of undocumented immigrants to the next level.

“It is up to us as leaders that represent large portions of immigrant communities to fight back and make sure that our immigrants, our dreamers, our DACA recipients, our TPS (Temporary Protected Service) recipients receive protection under the law,” Sepulveda said.

In January, Cuomo passed executive orders allowing all New Yorkers to remain eligible for Medicaid regardless of immigration status. In addition, the state’s budget for 2019 also includes a DREAM Act, which would open the Excelsior scholarship to undocumented students. The newly proposed bills are designed to make these changes permanent state law and include a provision to allow undocumented New Yorkers to keep their drivers’ licenses.

The passage of this legislation is critical for undocumented New Yorkers because DACA was set to expire in 17 days.

“We are asking our colleagues in the senate and the assembly to vote for the bill… to push for these three pieces of legislation that our immigrant community needs,” said State Senator Marisol Alcantara. “That would send a strong message nationally that New York is an immigrant town and that we support immigrants.”

The assembly members were joined by immigrant advocate groups such as the Bronx Defenders, the New York Immigration Coalition, and the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights.

Sinny Feliz, who works for the Northern Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, is a DACA recipients and a student at Hunter College; she said she would benefit most from the bill that would open the Excelsior scholarship to DACA recipients.

“I pay out of pocket for everything,” Feliz said of higher education. “It’s like a hole in your pocket. So this would greatly improve access to education.”

Statistics from the American Immigration Council, show that undocumented immigrants make up 17 percent of immigrants and 3.9 percent of the total population in New York State.

“New York is so different from any other state,” Feliz said. “From personal experiences, we have a whole soup of people from everywhere, so these bills are really important for New York. We have to set an example.”

This push in the New York State government comes on the heels of a similar effort on the federal stage; a bipartisan group of senators have been working on the passage of a “clean” DREAM act, which would allow for a path to citizenship as well as include provisions to improve border security. It remains uncertain whether the act would pass muster with the president.

“[President Donald Trump’s] administration may feel that they can strike fear into the hearts of immigrants and their children,” said Claudia Calhoon, the director of health policy at the New York Immigration Coalition. “But in New York, we’re going to hold the line on the gains that we have won over many, many decades.”

Photo by Radhika Viswanathan