NEW YORK—Immigration advocates are hoping to accomplish big things for the roughly 750,000 illegal immigrants living in New York State.
On Monday, they gathered on the steps of City Hall to announce their goals for the upcoming year.
Their first priority is to push the state legislature to pass the New York State DREAM Act, which allows young immigrants without legal status to receive state financial aid when applying to college.
The bill passed in the state Assembly, but failed to gain enough votes in the state Senate last March. Advocates hope the bill will be at the top of this year’s legislative session.
“Education shouldn’t be a privilege, it’s a right for all students,” said Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York.
Last year, an unprecedented number of child refugees from Central America crossed the border into the United States, many of them fleeing gang violence in their home countries.
New York City Immigration Advocates Announce Goals to Achieve in 2015
Immigration advocates are hoping to accomplish big things for the roughly 750,000 illegal immigrants living in New York State.
Executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, Steven Choi (C) in Manhattan, N.Y., on Monday, January 5, 2015. He announced immigration advocates' goals for reform in the state of New York for the upcoming year. Annie Wu/Epoch Times
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Their first priority is to push passage of the New York State DREAM Act.
Annie Wu
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Annie Wu joined the full-time staff at the Epoch Times in July 2014. That year, she won a first-place award from the New York Press Association for best spot news coverage. She is a graduate of Barnard College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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