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On Easter Sunday, dozens of New Yorkers and politicians gathered outside of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Midtown Manhattan office for an Easter “service,” organized by Make the Road New York. There, they demanded he approve a $3.5 billion fund for excluded workers, including undocumented immigrants, who worked during the pandemic. “He said that black and brown people, primarily, had to go to work. They were essential, they’re important. They had to go to work. They had no choice,” New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams recalled of Cuomo. The fund, which would give 187,000 immigrants and 87,000 recently incarcerated people with about $12,600 each, has angered state Republicans. The New York Post
Cuomo Pushes Burdensome Requirements for Undocumented Workers Fund
📍Documented Original — A partnership with New York Focus
New York’s next budget is expected to include an undocumented workers’ fund to provide over $2 billion in cash assistance for New York residents who were ineligible for federal relief payments throughout the pandemic. These New Yorkers include farm workers, service employees, street vendors and undocumented laborers who received cash wages in an informal economy. Still, state lawmakers and workers’ rights advocates say Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is pushing for a two-tiered system of access for the Excluded Worker Fund, which would administer benefits based on what proof-of-employment requirements a worker could provide. Read more at Documented.
Marijuana Legalization Affecting Immigrants in New York
Marijuana is now legalized in New York, putting an end to criminalization of the substance, which mainly affected communities of color. The Marijuana Taxation and Regulation Act will automatically annul New Yorkers’ previous marijuana convictions if those offenses would be considered legal under the law, and they won’t appear under a criminal history. But this isn’t alleviating all worries of immigrant New Yorkers with past marijuana convictions. Marijuana is still considered a controlled substance under federal law. Experts say this means that even if a past conviction is annulled, it could still be used for deportation or detention under immigration law. City Limits