This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the state is allocating an additional $2 million to help Afghan refugees resettle in the state. According to Hochul, 7,500 individuals are already in the state and 1,790 plan on finding homes in New York in the next few months. Less than 200 of them will come to New York city. Over 83% of the refugees will go upstate; 495 individuals are going to Buffalo, 420 to Syracuse, 275 to Rochester, 250 to Albany and 50 to Utica. AMNY
In other local immigration news…
NYC Council Votes to Let Noncitizen Votes in Municipal Elections
📍Documented Original
The New York City Council voted Thursday to pass legislation that would allow an estimated 800,000 noncitizen New Yorkers to vote in municipal elections. Of the 51-member city council, 33 members voted yes, 14 voted no and two members abstained from voting. Before voting took place, roughly 60 immigration advocates gathered at the City Hall steps to express their support for the legislation, by chanting “si se puede” (“Yes we can”) with signs that read “immigrants are taxpayers.” “Many other cities across the nation as well as abroad are watching this meeting today,” Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, a prime sponsor of the bill, said. “In one of the most diverse cities in the world, we need to ensure that there is adequate representation for all New Yorkers.” Read more at Documented.
New Yorkers Visit D.C. to Fight for Citizenship Pathway
As it stands, federal Democrats’ proposed Build Back Better Act only provides temporary relief for undocumented immigrants. So New York advocates and lawmakers traveled to Washington, D.C. to push for a pathway to citizenship. Make the Road New York was joined in D.C. by immigrant organizations from across the country. “Throughout these past few months, Bronx and Queens families, as well as our grassroots immigrant advocates, have been united and unfaltering in their message: Democrats promised a pathway to citizenship, and we must deliver one,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Harlem World Magazine
Watch this! America’s Voice TV launched an advertisement that features a New York Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, Miryam, who expresses her struggles to become a citizen. “Every time I take one step forward, I am pushed back five,” Miryam says. This is the first advertisement of a $320,000 campaign from America’s Voice TV, which will air in the Washington, D.C. market for the next two weeks in an attempt to push Congress to take action.
