Make the Road New York was among the many groups at the rally. Its media specialist, Yatziri Tovar, said a path to citizenship is essential to help communities recover – not only from COVID, but major weather events such as Hurricane Ida.
“Unfortunately, many of our community members – throughout Queens, throughout Brooklyn – were affected by the hurricane,” she said, “and many of them do not qualify to be able to access any type of relief or aid, because of their immigration status.”
Tovar said New Yorkers who were not eligible for, and did not receive, unemployment benefits or COVID-19 income relief could apply for the state’s new Excluded Workers Fund. It’s expected that congressional Democrats will announce another plan to address the citizenship issue in the near future.