NY Daily News | “At a time when New York City has seen an increase in immigrant families, the city should be increasing, and certainly not decreasing, funding for this initiative,” said Betty Baez Melo, director of the Early Childhood Education Project at Advocates for Children of New York, “so that children are not excluded from programs based on their immigration status.”

Roughly 40% of the thousands of newly arrived children are 5-years-old or younger and could lose access to early childhood programs after June, advocates said. Their parents, too, would miss out on child care services that enable them to find work, housing, navigate immigration systems and adjust to life in the city.