Senator Jose Peralta: No Dream Act, no on Education Budget Bill

There were many unrelated items thrown into the Education Budget Bill that Senator Jose Peralta (D-East Elmhurst) disagrees with, but his main reason for voting no on the Senate floor was because of the exclusion of the Dream Act, a measure that would make thousands of undocumented immigrant college students eligible for the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP).   

“Today is the birthday of the great labor leader César Chávez, and how appropriate, but yet sad, we have to talk about how decades later after his struggle, we still have to talk about the lack of dignity and the lack of respect for immigrants who came to this country to work hard and live the American Dream,” Senator Peralta said. “Here we go again. Another year, another budget that does not include the DREAM Act. This is beginning to look and sound like the movie Groundhog Day, in which the same day gets repeated over and over and over again. Another year of false fear mongering propaganda lead by the majority perpetuating an intolerant ideology that the sky will fall if we allow these undocumented kids to receive money from the Tuition Assistance program.”

“César Chávez would have turned 88, and to mark this day, dozens of CUNY and SUNY students ended the hunger strike they went on last week in an effort to have the DREAM Act included in this year’s budget. The DREAM Act is excluded from it, and for that reason, I am voting no on the education bill,” Senator Peralta said.

“I am sick and tired about being sick and tired of having my vote taken for granted, so therefore, I vote Nay,” said Senator Peralta on the Senate floor Wednesday night. “New York State and the DREAMers lost out here.”   

Senator Peralta noted he lost the battle but not the war. “I call upon governor Andrew Cuomo to make the DREAM Act a priority as he said throughout this entire budget process. I call upon the Governor to keep his promise and use his political capital to ensure the DREAM Act is passed before the end of this session. When he put the DREAM Act in his executive budget it lit a spark in the eyes of every DREAMer. He sent an infusion of hope and inspiration, but yet much to the dismay of all those DREAMers, the DREAM Act was taken out of the budget. I was disappointed, infuriated and devastated by this move.”

“We rather give tax credits to the rich so they can buy a yacht or a plane, or both, and keep thousands of hard-working undocumented immigrants from receiving financial aid to help them pay for their college tuition costs and obtain their degree as a path to a better life,” Senator Peralta added. “We are just trying to help our kids go to college, work and pay taxes. In other words, we must pave the way so they too can live the American Dream.”

Senator Peralta said, “I anxiously anticipate the day when I open a newspaper or click on a link to an article with a headline that reads: New York Dream Act, after years of broken promises, is now a Reality. CUNY and SUNY DREAMers wake up from their long-lasting nightmare.” 

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