With just a couple weeks until their final presentation, a group of University at Albany seniors have been working with City of Albany leaders on immigration.

They split into groups: budget and finance, law enforcement, housing, constituent services, legal services and history.

"My really big takeaway was history really does repeat itself," said UAlbany senior Emily Devine. "I really researched a lot of the federal stuff of history, found about 110 different policies, acts, etc., starting with the Naturalization Act in 1790, and everything is just about the same thing, just a different font and that's what we're going through right now, too."

They’ve been studying how other cities deal with immigration and reaching out to them for guidance.

"It's a lot bigger problem than it appears to be. The more research the more problems you find, the more questions arise, the more answers you have to find," said UAlbany senior Michael Dilorenzo.

Some say they're seeing government systems in a new light.

"It's definitely completely broken to the point where we need people, but we don't let certain people in," said college senior Sarah Golden.

They'll soon offer their take on how a city should handle these issues. They found the overarching problems are a lack of human resources and funding.

"It's kind of hard to come up with a solution because it's only one semester and we are not qualified on this thing, but just really getting the information of where people say the problem areas are so we can kind of present like what people have been saying," said senior Caeli Conklin.

It’s a complicated issue for anyone to navigate but, through their assignment, these students say they are becoming eager and determined to help the cause in their careers after graduation.

"It's something I'll just be cognizant about, because especially since I do want a career in law enforcement, immigration is always a factor, no matter what the problem is or the issue at hand," said Conklin.