Amsterdam News | AFC recently issued a brief for the public with three distinct demands directed at Adams’s new FY2024 budget: first, aiding the large influx of immigrants enrolled in school since last year: second, extending funding to Promise NYC, a government-subsidized childcare and early education program for low-income families, primarily for undocumented children who might be ruled out from traditional schooling; and third, creating more services to support English Language Learners (ELL) programs at transfer schools.

“It would be unconscionable to pull the rug out from under the hundreds of immigrant families who are currently benefiting from this program; if anything, the City should be increasing funding to meet the demand,” the brief read.

Rita Rodriguez-Engberg, director of AFC’s Immigrant Students’ Rights Project, said removing such a program would cause cascading failures for children and parents. Parents lacking affordable childcare options could lose employment options to care for their children full-time, resulting in less income and less engagement for their children, on top of their asylum or other immigration status.