A great rally calling for the promotion of equal treatment and opportunities for immigrants was held in front of Manhattan’s City Hall on March 10, and drew a crowd of about 1,000 from the city’s assorted immigration and immigrants’ rights advocacy groups. The demonstrators marched from Battery Park to City Hall, where they celebrated New York’s tenth annual “Immigrant’s Day.”
This program, held by the New York Immigration Coalition, began at 9:00 a.m. and went until 3:00 p.m. Following the assembly, representatives of the various advocacy groups visited City government organizations and City councilmen to lobby for immigrants’ rights.
Many Korean immigration advocacy groups – among them the Young Korean American Service and Education Center (YKASEC), Korean Community Service (KCS), the YWCA in Queens, Wonkwang Social Welfare Center, and Rainbow House, participated in the program, calling for a wide range of improvements and services, including affordable housing, more access to public housing services, guaranteed medical insurance benefits, increased justice for immigrants and laborers, improved access to legal services, improved education services for immigrants and English learners, the provision of classroom space for language instruction, and improved use of public parks for immigrants.
Chung-Wha Hong, the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) said, “New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has always said that immigrants are the power behind the city’s economy, and that the restructuring of the city’s broken immigration system is the necessary condition for long-term economic development.” She added, “So, the Mayor must keep his promises and must keep supporting job training and education programs for immigrants and low-income city residents, who make up most of the city’s low-level workforce.”
Mr. Seung-Jin Chong, the chairperson of the Young Korean American Service and Education Center, noted, “There are over 3,000,000 immigrants in NYC. Many of them really need to learn English. Right now, the City government can provide educational opportunities for only about 60,000 people. English is crucial for immigrants; we’ve got to see the number of people receiving education go up. We are strongly requesting that New York City expand the English education programs for immigrants, and promote employment for the city’s immigrants.” He added, “Because of the economic depression, the city government has made budget cuts that have had, and are having, a serious negative impact on various programs for immigrants, and the city’s low-income population in general.
Korean immigrant’s groups are arm-in-arm with other advocacy groups urging for steady support from the city for immigrant’s programs. They are speaking out against the proposed N.Y.C. budget cuts in immigration programs and reduced support for city’s social services system, which, among other things, helps so many immigrants to learn English and find basic labor jobs.
