NEW YORK, CMC – Immigration advocates have criticized Governor Kathy Hochul for failing to deal with the plight of Caribbean and different immigrants in her fourth State of the State (SOS) tackle on Tuesday.
“Governor Hochul outlined her imaginative and prescient for a New York that’s extra inexpensive, the place extra households could make ends meet, discover housing, and prosper. But, she failed to say the immigrants who’ve already contributed a lot to creating that imaginative and prescient a actuality,” mentioned Murad Awawdeh, president and chief govt officer of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC).
The pinnacle of the umbrella immigrant advocacy group of over 200 immigrant and refugee rights teams informed the Caribbean Media Company (CMC) that federal politicians throughout the political spectrum are demonizing immigrants. The incoming president has pledged mass deportations, and Hochul “misplaced a possibility to make New York a pacesetter by strengthening protections for immigrant households and together with them in her proposals.”
Awawdeh mentioned that with out the US$68 billion that immigrants pay annually in New York, the childcare, faculty lunches, and baby tax credit that Governor Hochul is advocating for will likely be tough to implement.
“With out enacting laws like New York For All to construct neighborhood belief for regulation enforcement, the general public security being espoused can’t be achieved,’ he mentioned, including, “with out investing in immigration authorized providers and passing the Entry to Illustration Act, the development employees who would construct inexpensive housing will be unable to remain and work in New York,”
Awawdeh mentioned it’s “time for our elected leaders to unequivocally rise up for everybody who calls New York dwelling and battle for a future the place all New Yorkers can thrive. After we assist our immigrant neighbors, all of New York advantages.”
Jose Lopez, the co-executive director of Make the Street New York, mentioned that whereas Hochul outlined a number of proposals designed to place cash in folks’s pockets, “we have to prioritize expansive investments in programmes that present assets for all New Yorkers.
“We’d like a Housing Entry Voucher Program so that everybody can have a roof over their heads. We should be certain that each baby has a well-funded training and that everybody has entry to healthcare to reside lengthy and wholesome lives.
“With the incoming Trump administration promising cuts in federal funding, the one approach we will obtain this stuff is that if billionaires and companies are compelled to pay what they owe in taxes. We additionally want to make sure that all New Yorkers can reside safely and in stability.
Lopez, whose immigrant advocacy group operates 5 neighborhood facilities in New York, mentioned this doesn’t imply militarizing the subway, which solely entrenches cycles of discrimination, incarceration, and poverty.
“It means ensuring New Yorkers have an inexpensive place to sleep and that actual, community-based security options are applied.”
With Donald Trump set to take workplace on January 20, Lopez mentioned, “It’s disappointing that Governor Hochul didn’t use her platform to champion insurance policies that might shield immigrant New Yorkers from an agenda to terrorize and deport our communities.
