No Sleep Till Brooklyn: Protesters sleep outside of Senator Schumer’s home demanding pathway to citizenship

For the first time, immigrants and advocates decided to take a creative approach to garnering Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s attention—they slept outside of his Brooklyn home at 9 Prospect Place. The effort was to put pressure on Democratic leaders on a pathway for immigrants to gain citizenship by including funding within the budget reconciliation package this year. 

“Today we are going to sleep on the street. We only have sleeping bags on the sidewalks to let him know we are here. We are asking for help and support. We want him to know we are here and want actions now,” Manuel Farfan said, a young leader from Make the Road New York, adding that the number of people sleeping outside does not compare to millions who live in fear of deportation.

 “We are here today to put pressure on Senator Schumer in order to create a path for citizenship to give us his support and vote. We’ve been having a lot of struggles during the pandemic. I’m here to represent my family, all of the immigrants, and all of the essential workers that have struggled during the pandemic. We’ve been fighting for decades, a lot of protest pushing this effort,” Farfan said.