Monday, June 28, 2010
MassHope 2010 victory
MassHope 2010 and the Student Immigration Movement held a press conference on Friday June 25th at 1pm to declare victory for their vigil at the MA State House. The conference committee had pulled the most offensive amendments on immigration from the budget. What remained was offensive but redundant to federal law and would cause no new harms. It was time, after 19 days and 18 nights to reflect on all that had been accomplished and go home.
And so much had been accomplished. In addition to the legislative victory, the Student Immigrant Movement gained new strength, leaders emerged, community built, and the larger community both educated and inspired. It was an amazing process.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
MA immigration update
It is reported in the Boston Globe this morning that a compromise on the budget was reached last night which stripped most of the most onerous immigration amendments from the budget, but others remain. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/06/24/budget_would_cut_services_local_aid/
The Student Immigration Movement will continue their vigil outside the state house. Join them if you can!
The Student Immigration Movement will continue their vigil outside the state house. Join them if you can!
Will Massachusetts be the next Arizona?
What? Seems preposterous. Not Massachusetts. But I think we dismiss that possibility at our peril.
Here is why I am concerned: there are a cluster of amendments to the MA state budget that are based on legislation recently passed in Arizona. The details, taken from the SIM website, include:
• Creating an anonymous tip line to report suspicious people using false documents, business hiring undocumented people and people who are undocumented and mandating investigations of all no matter how uncredible the reports are. (This is a hateful part of the law, requiring neighbors to spy and report on neighbors. This is putting the federal government’s job of immigration reform in the hands of the MA state investigators and in individuals’ hands which would bankrupt and use tax dollars to follow up on less than credible reports.
• -Denying access to assisted housing programs for undocumented people (This would leave many U.S. citizen children and family members homeless and increase government spending on motels, shelters and housing in the future.)
• Creating stricter requirements for housing, social security and health benefits, documented or undocumented (This is redundant for undocumented peoples because they currently receive no social security, welfare nor food stamps, receive basic necessary health insurance and do not benefits in the federal housing projects and vouchers. This requirement would make receiving benefits for all, especially poor and lower income people, more difficult and stricter.)
• Blocking limited and basic health care for undocumented people. (This is hateful and dangerous for the immigrant community as well as public health, creating barriers to basic health care for all, which is a human right, and therefore putting us all at risk for higher emergency costs and communal sicknesses.)
• Requiring businesses that work with the state to use some system (like E-verify) to verify paperwork, or the business will lose contract with government and be fined. (Verifying immigration status for employees is the federal government’s responsibility, not our state’s job.)
• Barring undocumented students from receiving In-State tuition. (This is redundant since MA undocumented students do not receive In-State tuition but it would block the five years of work that the Student Immigrant Movement has done to push for In-State tuition for undocumented students.)
Standing up in fierce opposition to these amendments, and leading the way for the rest of us, is the Student Immigration Movement. They have been holding a vigil outside the MA State House for almost three weeks now, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are holding press conferences, getting good media attention and doing a fabulous job of calling attention to what is about to happen.
Now they need your help. They need you to call your state senator and tell him/her that you want those amendments removed , that Massachusetts does not want to be in the same category as Arizona when it comes to racial profiling. The phone numbers of the state senators are available at the state website, http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm Then make a call to the Governor. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3homepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3 The students also would love to have you join them outside the state house. They plan on being there until either the amendments are removed or the Governor vetoes the bill because of the amendments.
The Student Immigration Movement is a collection of youth who feel the direct impact of our nation’s broken immigration system. Many of them, like the student at Harvard recently in the news (See below for link to Eric’s story) came to this country with their parents when they were very young. They have grown up here, belong here, “feel” American. They want to go to college, and like many immigrant children, want to go to state schools because that is more affordable. They want comprehensive immigration reform that acknowledges the special problems of youth and protects their families. They come from many places around the world. Some are still in high school, others are in college or working. And they are strong and inspiring! Join them for a few hours – you will be glad you did.
PS Want to know more? Here are some recent news articles and a couple of websites:
www.MassHope2010.com Information on the ongoing vigil.
www.afsc.org/goal/human-migration-and-mobility contains a number of resources and stories, including the document “A New Path Toward Humane Immigration Policy” http://afsc.org/document/new-path
WBUR is doing a series on immigration. On Monday the report included an interview with Susan Martin, director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University who says that an estimated 40% of people in the U.S. illegally, came here legally – on visas or border crossing cards. You can find the WBUR reports on the show Here and Now, http://www.hereandnow.org/
Eric Balderas and the Rule of Law, http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/eric-balderas-and-the-rule-of-law/58488/
Here is why I am concerned: there are a cluster of amendments to the MA state budget that are based on legislation recently passed in Arizona. The details, taken from the SIM website, include:
• Creating an anonymous tip line to report suspicious people using false documents, business hiring undocumented people and people who are undocumented and mandating investigations of all no matter how uncredible the reports are. (This is a hateful part of the law, requiring neighbors to spy and report on neighbors. This is putting the federal government’s job of immigration reform in the hands of the MA state investigators and in individuals’ hands which would bankrupt and use tax dollars to follow up on less than credible reports.
• -Denying access to assisted housing programs for undocumented people (This would leave many U.S. citizen children and family members homeless and increase government spending on motels, shelters and housing in the future.)
• Creating stricter requirements for housing, social security and health benefits, documented or undocumented (This is redundant for undocumented peoples because they currently receive no social security, welfare nor food stamps, receive basic necessary health insurance and do not benefits in the federal housing projects and vouchers. This requirement would make receiving benefits for all, especially poor and lower income people, more difficult and stricter.)
• Blocking limited and basic health care for undocumented people. (This is hateful and dangerous for the immigrant community as well as public health, creating barriers to basic health care for all, which is a human right, and therefore putting us all at risk for higher emergency costs and communal sicknesses.)
• Requiring businesses that work with the state to use some system (like E-verify) to verify paperwork, or the business will lose contract with government and be fined. (Verifying immigration status for employees is the federal government’s responsibility, not our state’s job.)
• Barring undocumented students from receiving In-State tuition. (This is redundant since MA undocumented students do not receive In-State tuition but it would block the five years of work that the Student Immigrant Movement has done to push for In-State tuition for undocumented students.)
Standing up in fierce opposition to these amendments, and leading the way for the rest of us, is the Student Immigration Movement. They have been holding a vigil outside the MA State House for almost three weeks now, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are holding press conferences, getting good media attention and doing a fabulous job of calling attention to what is about to happen.
Now they need your help. They need you to call your state senator and tell him/her that you want those amendments removed , that Massachusetts does not want to be in the same category as Arizona when it comes to racial profiling. The phone numbers of the state senators are available at the state website, http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm Then make a call to the Governor. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3homepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Agov3 The students also would love to have you join them outside the state house. They plan on being there until either the amendments are removed or the Governor vetoes the bill because of the amendments.
The Student Immigration Movement is a collection of youth who feel the direct impact of our nation’s broken immigration system. Many of them, like the student at Harvard recently in the news (See below for link to Eric’s story) came to this country with their parents when they were very young. They have grown up here, belong here, “feel” American. They want to go to college, and like many immigrant children, want to go to state schools because that is more affordable. They want comprehensive immigration reform that acknowledges the special problems of youth and protects their families. They come from many places around the world. Some are still in high school, others are in college or working. And they are strong and inspiring! Join them for a few hours – you will be glad you did.
PS Want to know more? Here are some recent news articles and a couple of websites:
www.MassHope2010.com Information on the ongoing vigil.
www.afsc.org/goal/human-migration-and-mobility contains a number of resources and stories, including the document “A New Path Toward Humane Immigration Policy” http://afsc.org/document/new-path
WBUR is doing a series on immigration. On Monday the report included an interview with Susan Martin, director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University who says that an estimated 40% of people in the U.S. illegally, came here legally – on visas or border crossing cards. You can find the WBUR reports on the show Here and Now, http://www.hereandnow.org/
Eric Balderas and the Rule of Law, http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/06/eric-balderas-and-the-rule-of-law/58488/
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Let's give this a try
It seems like it is time to start a blog to the AFSC-South East New England Program in an effort to help our community stay in touch with events, news and periodic reflections on Peace and Justice activities in our region. Newletters seem to be a thing of the past and, at this point, somewhat beyond our budget, so we are going to try this. Please let us know what you think.
We invite people in South Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island to send us information about events we should highlight (either upcoming or recent), articles/books/websites you think we should share, photos of your events or anything else you think others who work for peace and justice in our region should know about.
Tonight I attended the report-back from the group of 10 folks who traveled from Providence (including 3 from Boston) to the national May 29th demonstration in Phoenix Arizona protesting SB1070. Over 100,000 people attended the demonstration from all over the country (though it barely got noticed in the mainstream media). The travelers came back full of enthusiasm, with a sense of embarking on their generation's civil rights struggle.
What many found most exciting about the gathering was that there is growing unity that racial profiling is racial profiling, doesn't matter if you are black or brown or Asian. It's wrong. It's all the same. And we must work together to make sure that it does not get encoded in our laws (and to make laws that explicitly prohibit it). The sense of unity at the rally was powerful. And folks are committed to that unity here in Providence.
T0ward that end, we began creating groups to greet the National Governor's meeting in Boston on July 3rd with a strong presence calling for an end to racial profiling and bills that copy Arizona's SB1070. There also are beginning plans for national demonstrations July 29th (the date the AZ SB1070 is to go into effect). If you are interested in working on any of these projects, please let me know.
We invite people in South Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island to send us information about events we should highlight (either upcoming or recent), articles/books/websites you think we should share, photos of your events or anything else you think others who work for peace and justice in our region should know about.
Tonight I attended the report-back from the group of 10 folks who traveled from Providence (including 3 from Boston) to the national May 29th demonstration in Phoenix Arizona protesting SB1070. Over 100,000 people attended the demonstration from all over the country (though it barely got noticed in the mainstream media). The travelers came back full of enthusiasm, with a sense of embarking on their generation's civil rights struggle.
What many found most exciting about the gathering was that there is growing unity that racial profiling is racial profiling, doesn't matter if you are black or brown or Asian. It's wrong. It's all the same. And we must work together to make sure that it does not get encoded in our laws (and to make laws that explicitly prohibit it). The sense of unity at the rally was powerful. And folks are committed to that unity here in Providence.
T0ward that end, we began creating groups to greet the National Governor's meeting in Boston on July 3rd with a strong presence calling for an end to racial profiling and bills that copy Arizona's SB1070. There also are beginning plans for national demonstrations July 29th (the date the AZ SB1070 is to go into effect). If you are interested in working on any of these projects, please let me know.
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