Senator Chuck Schumer is vowing that comprehensive immigration reform will be achieved in 2017.

The New York Democratic senator voiced his bold declaration while speaking with volunteers at the recent CUNY/Daily News Citizenship NOW! hotline drive held at Manhattan's Guttman Community College.

"It lets more people in," added Schumer. "It takes people who are illegal and gives them a path to citizenship, no matter who they are."

The ever-optimistic Schumer soon turned his focus to gazing into the future, telling volunteers, "I'm supposed to become Democratic leader of the Senate in January. If I'm the majority leader, we're going to pass this very fast."

Immigration One of Presidential Election's Biggest Issues

Indeed, immigration continues to be one of the most talked about issues this election season, as evidenced by the record-setting 13,327 phone calls fielded by volunteers over the weeklong drive.

To date, the two parties couldn't be more divided on the issue, with Republican presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Ted Cruz both vowing to deport as many as 11 million immigrants, while leading Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both pledged allegiance to reform legislation.

"I think this year it is more meaningful, because of what is going on in the country," said lawyer and Baruch College professor Allan Wernick, who runs the immigration legal services program at CUNY.

He later added, "I don't think on a national level we have seen anything like this in terms of anti-immigrant sentiment."

Record-Setting Number of Hispanics Eligible to Vote in 2016

A recent Pew Research Center found that a record-setting 27.3 million Hispanics will be eligible to vote in this year's presidential election, with 44 percent of all those voters being millennials. Such math doesn't seem to bode well for Republicans, particularly given a recent Washington Post/Univision survey found that 80 percent of Latinos have an unfavorable view of GOP frontrunner Trump.

Joining Schumer as politicians and dignitaries who made stops during the drive were state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Queens), Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson (D-Bronx) and state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Queens).

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