Governor Andrew Cuomo is urging congressional Democrats to reject President Trump's plan to build a wall along the Mexican border. He addressed the 2018 SOMOS gala in Albany Saturday night, saying the border wall is a symbol of the Trump's administration's anti-immigrant policies. Cuomo said Democrats embrace diversity.
"We believe America is America because of immigrants. It's immigrants that built this country and made it what it is. They believe diversity is a weakness, we believe diversity is our key strength," Cuomo said. "We believe what our founding fathers said, e pluribus unum. Out of many one."
Cuomo was honored at the SOMOS gathering for playing a leading role in helping Puerto Rico recover from last September's devastating hurricane.
Cuomo also promised to distribute state education more equitably.
Cuomo said New York spends more per pupil than many other states but fails when it comes to making sure the poorest schools get the most help.
"We give Buffalo a check but there are 50 schools in Buffalo, and some are on one side of town and some are on the other side of town. Well where does the money go among those 50 schools?" Cuomo asked. "We don't even know."
Cuomo said he won't finalize this year's state budget until every city school district lets Albany know where they're spending their state education aid.
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