fbpx Latino Leaders Divided Over Best Mayoral Candidate for NYC Immigrants - Documented
 

Latino Leaders Divided Over Best Mayoral Candidate for NYC Immigrants

Plus: New York aid for military families seeking naturalization, Dreamers waiting for citizenship, and more New York immigration news.

This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.

It’s getting close to the primary elections to determine the candidates for New York City mayor. But some Latino voters feel candidates haven’t made it clear how they’ll serve immigrants. To help these voters figure out which candidates will best fit their needs, community leaders, activists and Latino politicians are preparing to endorse candidates. Alana Cantillo, senior director of advocacy at the New York Immigration Coalition, said that even though the organization hasn’t decided to back a candidate yet, they believe candidates should propose specific agendas on immigration. City Limits spoke with some organizations and advocates on which candidates they felt best represent the immigrant community. City Limits and El Diario (Spanish) 

In other local immigration news… 

New York Approves Aid for Military Families Seeking Immigration Status

Last week, the New York state assembly approved a bill (A04660) with bipartisan support that provides family members of New York veterans and active military personnel with help receiving immigration status. The bill was developed and approved in honor of Staff Sgt. Alex Jimenez, who enlisted in the Army after the September 11 attacks, but was taken prisoner and eventually found dead. He was in the process of securing legal status in the U.S. for his wife before he died, but she was at first turned down. According to Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz (D), more than 130,000 immigrant members of the military have been naturalized since September 2001, and over 20 percent of them were given the Congressional Medal of Honor. Spectrum News 

New York Dreamers Are Still Waiting for Citizenship

Even though Johnny Zamora is one of 30,000 Dreamers protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, he still fears being deported. It’s been nine years since the Obama administration enacted DACA, but recipients still have no pathway to citizenship like they were promised. Instead the program has faced threats of destruction by the Trump administration and still faces legal challenges. “We’re talking about individuals that have no serious criminal history here for many years,” said immigration attorney Elizabeth Cordoba, adding that many of these recipients are either college students or professionals. NY1

SEE MORE STORIES
Early Arrival Newsletter
Receive a roundup of all immigration news, and the latest policy news, in New York, nationwide, and from Washington, in your inbox 3x per week.
info@documentedny.com
Documented Advertising
Solutions
pitches@documentedny.com