"About 25 percent of New Yorkers don't speak English or don't speak it well," Carol Robles-Román, deputy mayor for Legal Affairs, says. "That alone lets us know how much diversity there is in our city."

According to Robles-Román, the week's events ranged from public workshops that focus on immigrant needs to panel discussions on immigration reform to exhibitions of Asian Pacific, Latino and even Polish artists. She says New York City is the only place where immigrant heritage is celebrated annually, but she hopes other municipalities will catch on. Mayor Bloomberg plans to lobby Congress to make Immigrant Heritage Week nationally recognized, says Robles-Román.

Bloomberg also publicly announced his support for the DREAM Act, which is currently before the U.S. House of Representatives. The act, which President Barack Obama supports and is expected to sign, would clear the way for undocumented immigrants who are minors to become U.S. citizens.

Bloomberg cites many instances where young immigrants didn't know they were here without documentation, were rejected for college loans because of their citizenship status and who were, from time to time, deported--even though they'd known nothing other than life in America.

"Right now, there are hundreds of thousands of children in our city who are not here legally--many of whom are not even aware of their immigration status," Bloomberg says. "Once these children leave school, they face a heartbreaking reality that can extinguish the flame of an otherwise bright future. Ineligible for student loans and legal jobs, many of these children end up doing low-wage, off-the-books work, and some end up facing deportation. The current system just isn't working. Why shouldn't our economy benefit from the skills these young people have obtained here in our public schools?"