Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks at CUNY Graduate Center on Thursday. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)
“New York City needs more immigrants,” Bloomberg said to a group of ethnic media at CUNY Graduate Center on Thursday. It was the first time Bloomberg met with ethnic media in New York—a detail the audience did not let pass.
“I have not done a good a job as I should have,” he replied.
Approximately 40 percent of New Yorkers are immigrants, according to the 2000 census.
Bloomberg outlined four priorities that he would implement in the next four years, should he get re-elected for a third term on Nov. 3.
The plan is to maximize economic contributions of immigrants, help immigrant children achieve, integrate immigrants into neighborhoods and civic life, and protect immigrants from exploitation.
“One of the biggest obstacles is language,” he said. “You have to learn to speak English if you want to participate in the great American dream.”
Increasing access to those who want to learn English would boost opportunities for jobs and Bloomberg wants to develop a 10-year plan to ensure every New Yorker who wants to learn English will be able to do so. Currently the waiting lists for English as a Second Language (ESL) courses are huge, he said. Of an eligible one-million-plus ESL people, only 50,000 are currently receiving education.
The city will pump $3 million into an initiative to allow an additional 5,000 immigrants to access ESL education, Bloomberg pledged.
The mayor wants to extend the language policy statewide to help immigrants interact with government agencies more smoothly. “Shame on us that we’re not doing this statewide,” he said.
Many immigrants fall into the trap of losing large sums of money to unscrupulous “immigrant service providers.” Bloomberg plans to clamp down on fraudulent immigrant service providers by using fresh-out-of-college law students, who may have trouble finding jobs, as immigration lawyers.
Last year State Assemblywoman Ellen Young came under suspicion of immigration fraud for her business, Ellen Young Immigration Consulting Co. A notarized letter stated how an immigrant was duped out of thousands. Many other Chinese immigrants told similar stories.
Immigrants traditionally make up a large portion of small business owners and Bloomberg was questioned about large department stores coming into neighborhoods where many in the community survive off small businesses that can’t compete with the large stores.
“The public like the big-buck stores,” he said, adding that people would drive to other areas to shop if the stores were not provided. The small businesses would have to find a way to cope, he said.
Questions were raised about discrimination in ethnic communities and the fear that results from attacks on immigrants.
Bloomberg responded by saying the city is safe for immigrants, but “sadly xenophobia has reared its ugly head.”
He encouraged the Jewish community to help stand up for the Muslim community.
