Families, students, and activists from across the state flocked to Albany on March 14 to push their elected officials to support the New York DREAM Act, a bill that would allow undocumented youth to receive state financial aid for higher education.
More than a thousand people traveled to the capital in support of the bill, a show of force organized by the New York Immigration Coalition as part of its annual Immigrants’ Day of Action.
At a press conference outside the State Capitol, several undocumented students spoke of the need for legislative change in New York. One of those students was Yelky Ramos, a 20-year-old Dominican immigrant from the Bronx who came to the US to reunite with her parents at the age of 13.
Wearing a T-shirt that read, “Undocumented, Unafraid, Unapologetic,” she called for state lawmakers to pass the bill:
At the event, State Senator Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), who introduced the New York Dream Act in the Senate, read more or less verbatim from a recent New York Times editorial about the legislation:
It’s hard to see why Mr. Cuomo should be hesitant to support these measures. It shouldn’t be the expense; a new study by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that the Dream Act would add roughly $17 million, or only 2 percent, to the cost of the Tuition Assistance Program. Students with college degrees make a state more attractive to businesses, earn more and pay more in taxes. Giving a boost to the dreams of undocumented young people is not only the decent thing to do, it’s also a wise investment.
Here are some photos from the day:
