Thread: Bill Seeks to Expand Rights for New York’s Immigrants

Bill Seeks to Expand Rights for New York’s Immigrants

By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: March 23, 2011

Three months after the defeat of the Dream Act, a Congressional bill that would have provided a path to legal residency for young illegal immigrants, a state senator from New York City has introduced his own version of the legislation in Albany.

Unlike its federal counterpart, the bill would not offer those immigrants a path to legal residency. But it would give some of them certain rights now granted only to legal residents and citizens, including the ability to hold some state jobs — a provision that appears to challenge federal laws that prohibit the hiring of undocumented workers.

The bill would allow illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses, a proposal that will undoubtedly reprise the fiery debates that compelled Gov. Eliot Spitzer to drop a similar plan in 2007.

State Senator Bill Perkins, a Manhattan Democrat who introduced the bill this week, acknowledged the challenges confronting it. “There’s politics and other types of obstacles that must be overcome,â€

New York Dream Act Introduced by State Senator Bill Perkins

Looks like the hard work and persistence of some New York-based dreamers (and around the country, really) paid off. New York now joins Maryland, California, Illinois, and Connecticut as states that are trying to push state versions of the DREAM Act, a federal bill that sadly wasn't passed by the Senate late last year even though it was popularly supported by the public and Congress.

http://www.lavozcolorado.com/american_v ... avid=7c27a

A N.Y. State Version of DREAM Act Introduced As a Kind of Consolation to Federal Failure

By Steven Thrasher, Wed., Mar. 23 2011 @ 3:15PM Categories: Immigration, Steven Thrasher

​The New York State Youth Leadership Council announced yesterday that a state version of the DREAM Act was introduced in the New York Senate.

Although the group is hailing this as a positive step, it's a big step backwards from what the DREAM Act set out to be. Originally introduced over ten years ago, the federal DREAM Act was supposed to have provided a pathway to citizenship for children brought to the United States illegally, who were willing to go to college or serve in the military. However, when that bill finally came up for a vote in the Senate last fall, it failed.

New York youth immigration activists, unsatisfied with inaction from the federal government, have set their sites on Albany.

The State version of the DREAM Act was introduced by Senators Bill Perkins and Daniel Squadron this week. According to the NYSYLC:

"This bill would provide benefits to New York undocumented youth who meet certain criteria. The benefits include access to financial aid for higher education, access to driver's licenses, work authorization and access to health care. In order to qualify for these benefits, the young person must have arrived to the United States before the age of 16, be under the age of 35, have resided in New York State for at least two years, have obtained a high school diploma or GED equivalent from an American institution and have
good moral character."

But these are really crumbs compared to the goals of the original DREAM Act. Immigration issues fall in the jurisdiction of the federal, not state, government. Even if this bill passed, New York State would have no ability to halt raids by Immigration Customs Enforcement (which have been at a record high during the Obama administration), let alone create a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

sthrasher@villagevoice.com / Twitter: @steven_thrasher

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninsca ... ersion.php

RELATED

Historic Step: NEW YORK DREAM ACT HAS BEEN INTRODUCED!

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1201893.html#1201893

Wouldn't this be a case of a state setting its own immigration policy, superseding federal authority?
1. The beneficiaries are people who have no immigration status in the US and thus subject to apprehension
2. It "furthers the presence" of such people
3. It uses public money to do so

"But these are really crumbs compared to the goals of the original DREAM Act. Immigration issues fall in the jurisdiction of the federal, not state, government. Even if this bill passed, New York State would have no ability to halt raids by Immigration Customs Enforcement (which have been at a record high during the Obama administration), let alone create a pathway to U.S. citizenship.

Added to Homepage--

http://www.alipac.us/article-6176--0-0.html

State bill revives pieces of DREAM Act for illegal immigrants - access to financial aid, work
BY Erica Pearson
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, March 24th 2011, 4:00 AM


Tania Mattos (l.), an organizer with the New York State Youth Leadership Council helped build support for the DREAM Act-like bill that is now being considered.

A new bill in the state Legislature would make college life easier for undocumented immigrant students - giving them benefits like financial aid and driver's licenses.

Unlike the federal DREAM Act that died in the Senate last year, the Albany bill wouldn't provide a path to citizenship - but advocates say it would be life-changing for the more than 10,000 undocumented kids who graduate New York high schools each year.

"If this passes I know it won't grant me legal status in this country, but it will definitely give me some sort of light into the darkness I'm living in," said Tony Bravo, 22, a John Jay College sophomore brought to Brooklyn from Mexico as an infant.

The legal studies major - ineligible for federal or state financial aid - works two jobs to pay $2,600 in tuition and books each semester.

The version of the bill introduced this week by state Sen. Bill Perkins and co-sponsored by state Sen. Dan Squadron (D-Brooklyn) would give kids brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents access to state financial aid, the ability to work legally in New York, a driver's license or state ID card, and access to health care.

"We want to help fulfill the American Dream for young immigrants," said Perkins (D-Harlem).

Assemblyman Guillermo Linares (D-Washington Heights) is slated to introduce an Assembly version, Perkins said.

The bill was introduced after a massive lobbying effort by young immigrants.

"We wanted to say that our dreams are not dead," said Tania Mattos, 27, an organizer with the New York State Youth Leadership Council.

Students would have to apply for the benefits before they turn 35 and have come to the U.S. before age 16. A felony conviction would bar them.

The other requirements are either two years in college, two years in the New York National Guard or completing almost 1,000 hours of community service.

epearson@nydailynews.com

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/201 ... z1HYNDX7A3

RELATED

New York population growth buoyed by Asians

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-1202241.html#1202241

Bloomberg will be all over this since he is all for amnesty as it will support his voter base. They cannot mix in the statement of having illegals go to school and be required to enter the US military. Only US citizens can be enlisted into service. Big issue there.

We do not need new laws. Enforce current immigration laws and illegals will leave. We do not want illegal aliens in the United States. It is time the politicians start listening to Americans and stop listening to illegal aliens and La Raza. Deport all illegal aliens now.