News from MIRA
First roundtable meeting draws 150 community leaders to help people escaping life-threatening conditions
July 15, 2014 CHELSEA — Dressed in a plain skirt, top and sandals, but with a GPS detention device strapped firmly to her left ankle, a Honduran woman addressed nearly 150 community leaders Thursday afternoon at the Chelsea Collaborative, speaking about the gang brutality that forced her to flee her country, about her detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and about her temporary reunion with family members in Chelsea. Her story exemplified those of many Central Americans who have come to Massachusetts in the past few months to await immigration proceedings that could ultimately result in either amnesty or deportation.
Read more: Community Responds Strongly to Help Central Americans Fleeing Harm
The March along Freedom Trail is one of many nationwide actions to stop separating families
June 28, 2014 BOSTON — Today, one year after Congress last took action on immigration reform, members of
the New England Coalition for Keeping Families Together marched the Freedom Trail today wearing orange t-shirts with their hands bound. Those marching included families who had lost their fathers to deportation, like the Chaudhrys; activists who see the pain and fear in local immigrant communities, like Carlos and Merida Arredondo; and members of community agencies, immigrant rights organizations, unions, and faith-based organizations.
The March along Freedom Trail is one of many nationwide actions to close the curtain on Congress and pivot to the President and fall elections to stop separating families
June 26, 2014 BOSTON — On Saturday, June 28, Boston Marathon Hero and lifetime human rights activist, Carlos Arredondo, will join other immigrants and their allies as they march the Freedom Trail in orange shirts and handcuffs to remind the nation of the 1,100 undocumented immigrants torn from their families every day by the Obama Administration's immigration enforcement regime.The action comes after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives failed to face up to its duty and their leadership's promises, ending the House session this week without any action on the immigration crisis.
Bipartisan Bill Would Provide Integration Assistance for the Foreign-Born
June 25, 2014 WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) introduced the New American Success Act, a bill that would create a comprehensive national immigrant integration strategy. Although many states, including Massachusetts, have taken it upon themselves to develop plans to promote the integration of New Americans, this would be the first time that the United States, a nation of immigrants, has developed such a strategy at the national level.
US Conference of Mayors passes resolution calling for proactive USCIS and Department of Homeland Security policy changes
June 24, 2014 BOSTON — On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) voted overwhelmingly to pass a resolution that urges the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to make policy changes that will increase the number of U.S. Citizens from the pool of eligible lawful permanent residents. The resolution emphasizes that it is in the interest of the federal government, especially USCIS, to minimize barriers to naturalization by reducing fees for citizenship applicants and “offering alternatives like a sliding-scale income based approach or family unit fee.”
