ALBANY – In response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s announcement that an agreement had been reached on the FY2023 New York State budget, the Fund Excluded Workers coalition released the following statement from Diana Cruz, Co-Director of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, on behalf of the coalition:

“The pandemic taught us a lesson: when we leave some people behind, we all pay the price. Unfortunately, that lesson doesn’t seem to have reached the halls of Albany. This budget continues to leave hundreds of thousands of excluded workers out of our social safety net, hampering our recovery from the last pandemic and making us more vulnerable to the next one. This budget sacrifices the needs of immigrants and working families to satisfy the needs of wealthy donors. It takes the labor of excluded workers for granted – just like lawmakers did before COVID. 

While we may all want to move on from the pandemic, excluded workers across New York are still dealing with the damage, from mountains of debt to unpaid rent to lingering health issues. These are the same New Yorkers who kept our state going through the last two years, often at great risk to their health: street vendors, domestic workers, day laborers, delivery drivers, farmworkers and workers in food production. 

Gov. Hochul had the chance to show that she would turn a new page and stand up for immigrants and New York’s most vulnerable workers. Yet the Governor refused to add a dime to the Excluded Workers Fund, while managing to find nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to subsidize a multi-billionaire. With this budget, Gov. Hochul has demonstrated who she truly serves – and who she’s willing to leave behind. Gov. Hochul was more than willing to throw immigrants under the bus for political gain – just like she has been over the course of her career. We won’t forget.

Not only does the budget ignore excluded workers’ calls for dedicated funding, but it also excludes undocumented children from childcare access and limits access to Coverage for All, leaving us a long way from ensuring that all New Yorkers can get health coverage regardless of immigration status. New York’s elected leaders have shown today that they are willing to sacrifice the well-being of excluded workers and families for the sake of politics. 

Excluded workers risked their lives during the pandemic so that other people could live comfortably. We can’t allow their contributions to continue to go unrecognized. 

Workers have marched across the state, shut down bridges, and gone on hunger strike. They have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that our safety net is broken. For many excluded workers, the safety net doesn’t exist at all. New York relies on our labor, and we are prepared to continue fighting for a New York where excluded workers, who have always been essential, will be Excluded No More.”