Immigration activists are celebrating after state lawmakers approved framework to extend pandemic relief funding to excluded workers, including undocumented immigrants, in this year's budget.

New York will provide $2 billion in financial aid to people who were ineligible for unemployment benefits and federal stimulus checks during the pandemic, including undocumented immigrants. Experts say this will bring in more than $200 million to people living in the Hudson Valley alone.

Applicants must have lived in New York by the end of March and have lost a job or income because of COVID-19.

Those with proper working or tax documents will receive $15,000, and those without the required paperwork will get $3,000.

On Wednesday evening, seven activists in Westchester ended a more than three-week hunger strike that was staged to pressure lawmakers to include the money in the budget.

Organizers say their dedication to the cause paid off.

The measure is one of the more controversial ones to make this year's budget. Some lawmakers in both parties have concerns the state is spending too much money on excluded workers.