Thursday, May 17, 2012
   
Text Size
image image image image image image
Fight Anti-Immigrant Amendments Help us fight upcoming anti-immigrant amendments in the State Senate Budget. Read about these amendments and sign the petition!
Come to Democracy School! Join the MIRA Coalition and Wellstone Action for Democracy School to do an advanced training on community organizing. Democracy School is an intensive two day training designed for organizers, community leaders, and advocates. Happening May 18 and 19 at SEIU1199. Register now!
GBCI May Citizenship Clinic The Greater Boston Citizenship Initiative (GBCI) will be holding a free citizenship clinic on Saturday, May 19 from 11am - 2pm, at Tremont Temple Baptist Church, 88 Tremont Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02108. For FREE naturalization information and application assistance, call 617-65-READY(617-657-3239) or register online here. You can help by volunteering — follow this link.
Give Liberty a Hand We're celebrating MIRA's 25th anniversary on May 31 at the State Room in Boston. Join us at our annual gala, Give Liberty a Hand, for a spectacular night of celebration and reminiscence. Learn more and buy tickets at www.givelibertyahand.com.
Our Mission   The Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) is the largest organization in New England promoting the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees. We serve the commonwealth’s one million foreign-born residents with policy analysis and advocacy, institutional organizing, training and leadership development, and strategic communications.
Our Accomplishments Into its third decade, the Coalition has undertaken several fundamental new initiatives, from English for New Bostonians and English Works, to staffing the production of the commonwealth’s New Americans Agenda, the most comprehensive study on immigrant integration in the nation.

From the MIRA Blog

As part of the Tufts Hillel Moral Voices lecture series, Deval Patrick spoke at the university on Monday about immigration rhetoric and voiced concerns regarding existing and pending immigration policies.  Continue reading to take a look at what...
posted by Samuel on Tuesday, 03 April 2012
It is that time of year when high school seniors eagerly await their college acceptance letters.  For many, of course, acceptance does not guarantee access. Undocumented students must still pay 2-3 times more tuition than other students to&...
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced today that Syrians currently in the United States may apply for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to avoid the increasingly violent situation in their home country.  TPS is not guarante...

Upcoming Events

    Keep Current with MIRA's Events Calendar

MIRA Members, if you wish to post an event on the MIRA Calendar for publication, please contact Frank Soults at fsoults@miracoalition.org or 617-350-5480 ext. 204.

 

MIRA is supported by


And by these Give Liberty a Hand 2012 Title Sponsors:

 

 

6/17/2010 2:21 pm
BOSTON -- Hundreds of Massachusetts residents of all hues crowded before the Grand Staircase in the State House on June 3, 2010 to speak against Senate Amendment 172.1, which would provide recourse for neighbors of one hue to turn in neighbors of another through a newly established toll-free number at the Attorney General's Office. " This is not the kind of society we want in Massachusetts," said Eliseo Medina, Executive Vice President of SEIU International union "Massachusetts is NOT Arizona."
The special 1-800 number would provide anyone the ability to report on suspected violations of immigration or wage law, which the Attorney General would then be obliged to investigate, regardless of the call's merit. The amendment also mandates residency status checks for all applicants for state benefits, codifies the rule against providing undocumented students the ability to receive in-state tuition, and makes the creation of fake I.D.s a crime punishable with jail time. As speakers at the event noted, these sweeping changes in state law, which usurp the authority of the federal government to police immigration law and mandate layers of repetitive background checks across agencies, were debated in the Senate for a scant 20 minutes.
"One thing is for sure," continued Medina. "The Senators didn't even read it through. Why did they vote for more snooping, more needless pain and suffering?" In the end, Medina concluded, the amendment was "Big Spending, Big Brother legislation"

Other speakers, including Reverend Hurmon Hamilton, President of the Boston Interfaith Organization, prayed for understanding and reconciliation, and spoke about his hopes that the amendment would be reconsidered in the House and Senate reconciliation process. Reverend Hamilton, one of the first Massachusetts leaders to meet with Scott Brown after his election to the U.S. Senate, also pointed out that the law would not have been passed if the U.S. Senate would deal with comprehensive immigration reform. Toward this end, he asked Senator Brown to break his silence and speak in support of a federal fix to the broken system.

After speeches from religious, union and community leaders, the crowd marched from the State House to Senator Brown's offices at the JFK Building in Government Center. As they marched down the sidewalk, passing cars beeped in support and marchers chanted with purpose and conviction.


Donate
Join the Coalition
Sign Up For the Bulletin

Connect with MIRA

  MIRA on Facebook  MIRA Videos  MIRA Tweets  MIRA Photos  MIRA Bulletin MIRA Blog

New Hampshire

  • About NHAIR
    New Hampshire Alliance of Immigrants & Refugees:   In...
    Read More...