Albany, NY-As Albany grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrant advocates and allies successfully secured several investments meant to protect and empower the New Yorkers serving on the front lines of this crisis—immigrants. Governor Cuomo’s FY21 state budget includes a $10 million re-investment in the Liberty Defense Project.

Albany, NY-Today, the New York Immigration Coalition and the Vera Institute raised the alarm bell about the dire impacts cutting off funding for critical immigration legal services will have on low-income immigrant New Yorkers and NY’s fight against COVID-19. Without these resources, the thousands of immigrant New Yorkers, many of whom are serving as essential workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, will continue to be targeted by ICE and threatened with separation from their families.

New York, NY-Yesterday, the New York State Department of Health announced that all low-income immigrants, regardless of immigration status, would have access to COVID-19 testing, evaluation, and treatment as services covered by Emergency Medicaid - a key plank of the NYIC's New York United platform.

New York, NY—Following the Senate's passage of a $2 trillion economic stimulus package, immigrant advocates denounced the exclusion of millions of immigrants and families from the direct cash assistance programs and unemployment assistance. The package would direct payments of $1,200 to most American adults and $500 to most children, create a $500 billion lending program for large companies and cities, and extend another $367 billion to help small companies deal with payroll problems.

New York, NY—Only hours after reporting a positive case of COVID-19 among its staff, the immigration court on Varick street reopened with no warning. Advocacy groups are renewing their demand that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) release all detainees and immediately adopt policies in line with the recommendations of public health officials.

Washington, DC-Yesterday, the House leadership led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced the Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act. The Democrats' bill makes healthcare affordable and accessible; provides cash assistance to all families, as well as support to small businesses in need of direct grants or small business loans; and injects nearly $40 billion into schools and universities to stabilize funding; among other measures crucial to supporting the health and well-being of the country and every family, regardless of status.

New York, NY—Today, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) is opening 93 Regional Enrichment Centers to provide front-line workers with childcare to ensure their parents can continue to serve the city in this time of need. Unfortunately, the DOE's Regional Enrichment Center criteria is currently limited to health care workers, FDNY, NYPD, Office of Emergency Management, and some New York City Transit Authority roles, and the DOE has not provided clarity on how many available spaces, if any, will be accessible to children of other essential workers like grocery clerks, home healthcare workers, delivery and restaurant workers, and cleaners.

New York, NY-Today, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) published a comprehensive multilingual resource page providing accurate information on the resources immigrant New Yorkers need to know during the COVID-19 crisis. The community resources will be updated daily at 9 AM each weekday and include information about how our undocumented community members can access health insurance now; updates from the Department of Education concerning school meals and remote learning; news about immigration court closures; the moratorium on evictions, and more.

Batavia, NY—The risk of exposure to COVID19 for immigrants incarcerated in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center, known as Batavia, increases by the day and the time is now to release all immigrants in Detention say immigration advocates. On March 12, one day after the World Health Organization declared COVID19 a pandemic, there was a transfer of 40- 52 people to Batavia, some of whom came from Bergen County where a corrections office tested positive for COVID19.

This news of exposure comes as advocates sound the alarm regarding the court in Batavia, which has remained fully open, further increasing the risk of exposure to all who must go to court.

New York, NY—With Albany lawmakers moving quickly to pass an emergency paid sick leave bill, immigrant advocates are raising the alarm that the legislation leaves out thousands of immigrant workers and poses hardships to New York’s small and micro-businesses, the majority of which are owned by workers.