Immigrant News Queens

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that he supported the DREAM ACT which would allow children of undocumented immigrants to become citizens in exchange for attending college or performing military services.

Live interview on World Series bet airs on Good Morning America October 29, 2009 (Photo by Edward Reed, taken from the nyc.gov website)

He made the statement recently when he announced a four-category plan to help immigrants and their children living in the five boroughs. The plan titled “Immigrants: the lifeblood of New York City,” was made at the CUNY Graduate Center in Midtown.

He explained that it was designed to maximise the economic contribution of immigrants; help immigrant children achieve; integrate immigrants into the neigbourhood and civic life and finally, to protect immigrants from any type of exploitation at the work place.

With less than two weeks to go before the elections for the New York mayor, Bloomberg appears to have focused his efforts on immigrants votes, all in an attempt to secure a third term in office. He noted that the plan was designed to ensure that the immigrants, the engine for the development and prosperity of the city, could contribute towards the economic development and also be integrated into civic life. It would ensure that the children of immigrants were properly educated and introduce policies to protect the immigrant community from exploitation.

Bloomberg said he had spoken out many times in favour of comprehensive immigration reforms and will continue to do so. “Though we have undertaken many steps to strengthen the immigrant community, a lot more needs to be done. The slow down of the economy may lead to lower number of immigrants but it will not stop our outreach to immigrants.

He stressed that under the plan every immigrant New Yorker who wished to learn English will have the opportunity to do so. It further calls for New York State to adopt a language access policy similar to New York City’s , develop a reporting and regulation policy to protect Non-English speakers from fraudulent immigration service providers and to strengthen legal assistance to immigrants.

Bloomberg said he would call on the Office of Immigrant Affairs to develop a blueprint to outline a ten-year plan to include English as a second language (ESL) for all New York City immigrants. And the City would commit $3 million to cover an additional 5,000 immigrant New Yorkers.

He said he would also call on Governor David Paterson to sign an Executive Order to establish a statewide language access policy that will allow all New Yorkers to interact with the government. To complete the plan he said he would develop a policy to protect immigrants trying to achieve citizenship. The first step, he explained, would be to convene a task force on Immigrant Service Providers, co-chaired by the Commissioners of the Department of Consumer Affairs and the Office of Immigrant Affairs and representatives from relevant City agencies. The Task Force will have one year to submit its proposal to end the exploitation of immigrants, especially by non-attorneys, to the Mayor. It is expected to be submitted by next October.

He said the City was also working on providing legal assistance in communities with a high percentage of immigrants