Westchester Youth Organizes Support For Immigrants

Westchester Youth Organizes Support For Immigrants
Friday, 05 June 2009

White Plains, NY - A Youth-led movement called the Westchester DREAM Act Task Force is organizing a large march and rally in the City of White Plains on Saturday, June 6th at 1pm.

The purpose is to highlight the challenges facing immigrant students and families seeking higher education in the United States and to pressure elected officials to sign on to the D.R.E.A.M. Act, and Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The D.R.E.A.M. Act is a piece of federal legislation that would allow immigrant students to stay in the United States to pursue higher education. Students who have attended elementary schools s here would be eligible to stay in the United States to pursue higher education. States would be able to authorize the cancellation of removal and adjustment of status for these students.

Both Senators Schumer and Gillibrand, along with Congressman Eliot Engel, have already signed onto the D.R.E.A.M. Act, and we are asking Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Congressman John Hall to follow suit.

As Senator Gillibrand put it “"America is the only home many of them know, yet they are being denied the opportunity to achieve their full potential. This legislation says that if they work hard and play by the rules, then they will have the opportunity to get a good education and earn their way to legal status."

The following groups have endorsed this action: Westchester DREAM Act Task Force, WESPAC Foundation, Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association, White Plains Youth Bureau, Centro Hispano, Westchester Hispano, Hudson Valley Community Coalition, We Are Workers Committee of Ossining.

Contact: Westchester DREAM Act Taskforce, www.WestchesterDream.org