DREAMers said they would continue fighting after New York’s state Senate voted against the NY Dream Act, which would have allowed undocumented students to access in-state tuition for higher education.

“It’s a shame that they did not stand up for equal access to higher education and an investment in the future of New York,” said Antonio Alarcon, a leader of Make the Road New York, a United We Dream national coordinating committee member and a student at LaGuardia Community College.

“These are students who were raised in New York and have made the state their home. The country was watching New York, and Dreamers from the state and across the U.S. are disappointed in the state Senate’s decision,” Alarcon said in a statement.

All of the state Senate’s Republicans present on Monday voted against it, as well as two Democrats. State Senator Sen. Greg Ball (R-Patterson) said in a statement, “In a world of finite resources, New York State should be focused on creating jobs, cutting taxes and streamlining the path the citizenship, not handing out tax payer dollars to illegal aliens.”

State Senator Adriano Espaillat, (D-Washington Heights) who is Dominican American, posted his disappointment Monday night on Twitter.

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