Readout: First Lady McCray, City Leaders Dine With Dreamers at Gracie Mansion

September 13, 2017

First Lady McCray, Deputy Mayor Buery and MOIA Acting Commissioner Mostofi join NYC Dreamers to discuss their hopes, fears and determination in the fight to #DefendDACA

Video footage from the dinner available here: Facebook Twitter

NEW YORK—Last week, First Lady Chirlane McCray, along with Deputy Mayor Richard Buery and Acting Commissioner Bitta Mostofi of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, held a “Dreamer Dinner” at Gracie Mansion with immigrant youth, including beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The dinner followed the President’s announcement to wind down DACA, up-ending the lives of 800,000 DACA recipients across the country, including 30,000 New Yorkers.

The six immigrant youth that joined First Lady McCray and City leaders for dinner span the professional spectrum, working in the public, private and non-profit sectors, and several are pursuing their goals in higher education.

Over dinner, the Dreamers spoke about how the DACA program has helped them to fulfill their professional and academic aspirations, the deep concerns they have about recent news that the program might come to an end, and the critical moment we are in to fight back to protect DACA recipients and undocumented immigrants more broadly, including their families.

First Lady McCray, Deputy Mayor Buery and Acting Commissioner Mostofi pledged the City’s support for New York City’s 30,000 Dreamers and reiterated the Mayor’s commitment to pursue litigation in response to the President’s decision as well as to work with local leaders across the country to push Congress to pass the DREAM Act in order to protect Dreamers.