Albany, NY-Following the introduction of the New York State Assembly and Senate’s one-house budget resolutions, immigrant New Yorkers and advocates celebrated several critical wins for FY 2022—including $2.1 billion for a fund for excluded workers, $20 million for a crucial expansion of health coverage, a $7.8 million reinvestment in adult literacy education, and a $26.4 million reinvestment in the Liberty Defense Project and the Office for New Americans.

New York, NY-Today, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which is the latest COVID-19 federal relief bill. Like the relief package last December, this bill provides economic relief to roughly 3.5 million U.S. citizens and green card holders married to noncitizens who file taxes using an ITIN number, including 314,000 New Yorkers but still leaves out countless other tax-paying immigrant families.

New York, NY-On Tuesday, the Biden administration notified the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) that it will no longer defend a Trump-era policy that dramatically and illegally expanded the racist “public charge” rule. Yesterday’s decision, and subsequent court decisions dismissing other cases across the country, mean that Trump’s viciously anti-immigrant policy is no longer in effect.

New York, NY-On Wednesday, New York Representatives Nydia Velázquez and Yvette D. Clarke joined Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA) in reintroducing the Dream and Promise Act. The legislation allows many individuals brought to the country as children and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) beneficiaries to earn lawful permanent residence and eventual citizenship.

Albany, NY-Today, the New York State Senate passed the NY HERO Act, which ensures the protection of millions of front-line workers, regardless of immigration status, by providing protocols on testing, face masks, PPE, social distancing, hand hygiene, disinfection, and engineering controls during this pandemic and into the future.

New York, NY-On Friday, New York City officials announced that Richard A. Carranza will resign as chancellor of the city’s public school system in mid-March. Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Chancellor Carranza in 2018. Meisha Ross Porter, a Bronx superintendent, will become the new chancellor on March 15. Porter will be the first Black woman to hold the role in the city’s history.

New York, NY-Yesterday, President Joe Biden revoked his predecessor’s extremist immigrant visa ban. Last spring, the Trump administration halted the issuance of green cards until the end of 2020 citing the need to “protect” the coronavirus-wracked job market.

New York, NY—Today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced it is reverting to the 2008 version of the naturalization civics test. The move came after USCIS determined that the 2020 civics test development process, content, testing procedures, and implementation schedule inadvertently created potential barriers to the naturalization process.

New York, NY-Today, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Congressmember Linda Sanchez (D-CA) introduced President Joseph R. Biden’s U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021. The Biden/Harris administration originally announced the legislation shortly after their inauguration on January 20. The bill would create a pathway to citizenship for roughly 11 million immigrants lacking legal status.

New York, NY-Today, President Joe Biden announced that the US will raise the cap on refugee admissions to 125,000 in 2021. The proposal is a stark departure from President Trump’s policies, which drastically cut admissions from 110,000 in 2016 to 15,000 in the current fiscal year.