New York, NY—Today, Governor Hochul delivered her State of the State address to announce her priorities for New York in 2024. Her address was focused on the ways in which the state hopes to support and uplift working families, yet she failed to mention any plans to significantly support and integrate immigrant New Yorkers, including renewing her landmark investment in legal services funding for immigrant New Yorkers.
Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition:
“New York has welcomed over 150,000 asylum seekers in less than two years, and is home to over 4.4 million immigrants, but we are nowhere to be found in the Governor’s State of the State address. In order to create a vision for New York that works for the collective advancement of everyone who calls our great State home, Governor Hochul must expand and support immigrant rights, which will power our state into the future. Our communities have been the economic engine of our State, with Immigrant New Yorkers contributing over $60 billion in taxes every year. New York will only thrive when our State shows all immigrants the same care that allowed previous generations to succeed as new Americans.
"Governor Hochul shared a long list of challenges that New Yorkers face in accessing housing, education, and healthcare – but her list of solutions were short and excluded the specific needs of immigrant New Yorkers. We must make investments in legal services, tax credits for working families, and housing vouchers, while ensuring language accessibility for newer initiatives. As Governor Hochul knows, New York is a state of immigrants. We need leadership in Albany to stand up for all New Yorkers, whether they arrived here thirty years ago or thirty days ago. We look forward to seeing how Governor Hochul addresses these exclusions in her executive budget.”