Over the past couple of months Dreamers, community leaders, and staff at Cabrini Immigrant Services, NYC,
have been putting all of their time and effort into the fight for a clean DREAM Act.
On January 11th, we held a phone bank where Dreamers and community leaders called community members, encouraging them to call theirelected officials to demand a DREAM Act. While some of the calls were frustrating and discouraging, we also encountered many people who were eager to help – we were even able to change a few peoples’ minds by educating them about Dreamers!
On January 18th – right before the government shutdown – Cabrini Dreamers and staff went to Washington, DC to encourage elected officials to stand up for Dreamers. Cabrini Dreamers shared their stories, participated in sit-ins in various legislators’ offices, and attended a vigil in front of the Capitol Building. The struggle to protect Dreamers continues; we hope that you will support us in these efforts by calling your elected officials! You can call them at: 478-488-8059.
Last week, staff and community members also visited the state capitol, in Albany, for a day of legislative visits with the New York Immigration Coalition. We participated in trainings and visited state legislators to discuss the needs of immigrants in New York. We encouraged legislators to support increased funding for areas such as legal services for immigrants and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), both of which are very important to clients at CIS-NYC. While our focus in recent months has been on federal issues, this was a great reminder of how
important local policies are for the well-being of our community!