In the News

Desde 1964, millones de estudiantes de secundaria de hogares de bajos ingresos se han convertido en los primeros en sus familias en obtener un título universitario gracias a los programas financiados con fondos federales Upward Bound que operan en cada estado. Estos programas, establecidos como parte de la Guerra contra la Pobreza del presidente Lyndon B. Johnson, invitan a estudiantes de secundaria de familias de bajos ingresos a estudiar en un campus universitario. Durante el año escolar, tienen acceso a tutoría y consejería académica para mantenerlos en vía a su graduación, y con la llegada del verano, se mudan a dormitorios y se inscriben en clases diseñadas para prepararlos para el año que sigue.

Las comunidades del campus se reúnen alrededor de los estudiantes de Upward Bound, proporcionando recursos cruciales y desarrollando en ellos el sentido de que pertenecen a la universidad. Los padres de tales estudiantes pueden ofrecerles un sólido apoyo, pero no pueden transmitir la nostalgia y la comprensión de una universidad a la que nunca asistieron. Pueden inculcar disciplina y ser generosos en su estímulo para que sigan una educación universitaria, pero es poco probable que sean de mucha ayuda para su hijo cuando se trata de llenar la solicitud Common App o elegir qué prueba de admisión debe tomar. El conocimiento de estos procesos, aunque menos valioso que el amor de los padres, no es menos importante.

Since Donald Trump assumed control of the federal government’s executive branch, millions of Americans have become fearful that he will fulfill his pledge — repeated many times during last year’s campaign — to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Already, Trump has issued an executive order that all but eliminates Immigration and Customs Enforcement priorities that until then put serious criminals first in line for deportation actions. As a result, honest and hardworking people who came to America as children with their parents are now considered as much a priority for deportation as individuals with extremely serious criminal records. Just the very act of entering the United States without authorization or staying here after the expiration of a visa is now being prosecuted as a crime that unjustly merits deportation. We are prepared to lead the resistance to Trump’s immoral anti-immigrant policies. We are a city of immigrants within a nation of immigrants. About one-third of New York City residents were born outside the United States. Their contributions are vital to our civil society.

100 Days into President Donald Trump’s presidency, America has witnessed a dramatic shift on many fronts. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, that Trump is filling the swamp with the same hate induced agenda that we witnessed during his campaign. And as a result, we are now witnessing firsthand aggressive shifts in policies that impact America’s standing abroad with our allies and here at home. Radical efforts to take away healthcare from millions of Americans with the now failed attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, to the also now blocked Executive Orders that would have proven disastrous for America by banning Muslims, refugees, and travelers from entering the country. Ongoing is the challenge to resist the Trump administration’s policy and rhetorical attacks on immigrant communities around the country. With its anti-immigrant agenda, the administration has set loose the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs Border Patrol (CBP) agents to target immigrant families through raids, detentions and deportation with no oversight or accountability, policies that are unacceptable and unaligned with the values that make our country successful.

Congressman Adriano Espaillat—the first formerly undocumented immigrant and first Dominican-American elected to Congress—encouraged arrivals from African nations to “be bold” and “unafraid” in the era of President Donald Trump, whose administration has pursued an aggressive immigration enforcement agenda, and called on them to remember their roots.  

Freshman Rep. Adriano Espaillat, 62, a New York Democrat, talks about public housing, baseball, and his grandson’s love of cars. Q: What has surprised you about Congress so far? A: It’s a huge operation. It’s a great huge, large institution and for you to put your arms around it. You have to be very specific and develop a niche in every area you want to excel in, that’s close to your heart, something that’s good for our district, and it’s all local, obviously. Housing is what I’ve chosen. Public housing is very broad. The White House is public housing. The president doesn’t pay rent. He has cold and hot water every day. He doesn’t have any mold in the bathroom or leaks in his pipes. We pay his rent and that’s public housing. We should have a level of commitment to tenants who live in public housing.

House Democrats from Oregon, New York and Virginia proposed a bill last week — the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act — that, if passed, would turn ICE’s current guidelines into a law that actively prohibits officials from conducting arrests, interviews, searches or surveillance at these “sensitive” locations. (It’s unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House.) Bonamici sponsored the bill with Reps. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), José E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), Don Beyer (D-Va.) and at least 20 other co-sponsors.

On a Wednesday afternoon in February, a young Latina walked into Rep. Adriano Espaillat’s newly opened Harlem office looking for help. Greeted by two staffers, she explained in halting English that she wanted to know how her grandmother could apply for American citizenship. One of the staffers responded in Spanish, bringing her further into the office and translating for her as another staffer walked her through the immigration forms on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. It was constituent services at its finest. And if any office is equipped to help with immigration issues, it’s Espaillat’s – he’s one of the few members of Congress to have gone through the process himself.

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.) accused the Trump administration Tuesday of gambling with American lives after Trump threatened to pull federal funding for law enforcement in so-called sanctuary cities.
"By yanking funding away and clawing back funding away from law enforcement, we're putting average Americans at risk," he said during an interview on CNN's "New Day." "In fact, it's almost like putting a gun to the head of Americans and playing Russian roulette."