Members of the Dream Act, known as the Dreamers, protested against New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo for his lack of promised support for the Dream Act Bill. The members of Occupy Wall Street, now Occupy Albany, arrived to help.

Fifty-nine protesters showed up and had a sit-in at the Capitol in Albany amidst the state budget talks. The protesters were demanding that New York works for all, not just the rich. They also demanded campaign finance reform and more school funding.

Besides Occupy Albany and Citizen Action, who had organized the demonstration, there were the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), Strong Economy for All, and Make the Road New York, a group that has pushed the Dream Act, the TimesUnion.com reports.

Make the Road New York, along with the Dreamers, wants to allow tuition for illegal immigrants or their children. The Dreamers want Cuomo to fund the Dream Act for the next fiscal year, as of April 1st, 2014.

Meanwhile, Cuomo and legislative leaders sat behind closed doors discussing their 2014-2015 budget, due for completion by April 1 of this year. The issues that they will discuss are: pre-K funding and school aid as well as how to pay for a property tax freeze, which was big on Cuomo's agenda.

"That's my priority. That's what I've been working on," Cuomo said.

Cuomo's property tax freeze would provide rebates for those who live in communities that keep property tax growth below two percent.

Also on the budget agenda, lawmakers had "table targets" or spending amounts for different categories. They included $240 million for education, which was less than what Assembly Democrats wanted; $19 million is expected to go towards mental health, public and economic development, $64 million for higher education, and $59 million for health, just to name a few.

The Dreamers are asking for a Finance Bill for undocumented students to access state aid to college. It would only cost the state $25 million, two percent of the academic budget. An estimated 8,000 students now benefit, the El Diario reported.

As of press time, depending on how one looks at it, the Dream Act Bill has narrowly failed in the New York Senate. The New York State Senate rejected a bill that would have provided tuition assistance to undocumented immigrant college students that would affect almost 8,000 college-age immigrants who were brought to the US as children.

However, the vote did pass in favor of the Dreamers with 30 votes to 29 votes, but the rules of the New York State Senate says 32 votes are needed from the majority of 63 sitting senators, the Truthout.com reports.

The silver lining is that there's still time to put the legislation back in a compromised budget deal between the Republicans and the Democrats.

As of this weekend, 50 Dreamers or more are expected to travel to Albany for the 27th Annual "Somos" Conference, Somos in English means "We Are." At this conference Latino leaders will meet to discuss and promote laws that benefit the community statewide.

Cuomo has been invited to attend, but he has still not confirmed his presence.

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