MIRA Coalition - Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition

‘We will not waver’: MIRA, community leaders respond to Census decision

“Today democracy won,” Attorney General Maura Healey said at a MassCounts rally on the State House steps.

BOSTON, June 27, 2019 – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a partial victory to challengers of the citizenship question in the 2020 U.S. Census, saying the Secretary of Commerce was legally allowed to add the question, but calling his rationale “contrived” and unsupported by the evidence. The Court thus remanded the case, leaving it up to the Secretary to offer up a new, credible reason for adding the question.

“The reasoned explanation requirement of administrative law is meant to ensure that agencies offer genuine justifications for important decisions, reasons that can be scrutinized by courts and the interested public,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority. “The explanation provided here was more of a distraction.”

“The Supreme Court rightly called out the administration today on its blatant misrepresentations about the citizenship question,” said Eva A. Millona, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition and Chair of the Statewide Complete Count Committee. “Though we wish that today’s decision had struck down the question once and for all, we will not waver.”

Now more than ever: Support the Safe Communities Act!

Two years ago, we launched a movement: immigrant advocates, civil rights groups, service providers, faith leaders and allies committed to ensuring that in Massachusetts, no one has to live in fear, and everyone’s civil rights will be respected. We built unprecedented support on Beacon Hill and across our Commonwealth. Dozens of communities also adopted local pro-immigrant policies.

Now it’s time to bring our work to fruition. A new Safe Communities Act is before the Legislature: S.1401 (Sen. Jamie Eldridge) and H.3573 (Reps. Ruth Balser and Liz Miranda). It’s streamlined but has the same core provisions to restore community trust in police by avoiding entanglement in immigration matters, and protect due process for all.

We need to keep building political momentum to ensure that the SCA passes in this session. That means legislators need to keep hearing from constituents, week after week, until we succeed.

Will you contact your legislators today? Click here to send emails or look up their phone numbers to give them a call!

Help make college dreams a reality for Boston students!

Contribute to a scholarship for undocumented immigrants who’ve just graduated from city schools.

Thousands of immigrants attend Boston’s high schools. They work hard and have big dreams, but at graduation time, many face a huge obstacle: If they’re undocumented, they don’t qualify for federal financial aid, and if they enroll in a public college in Massachusetts, many will have to pay out-of-state tuition.

Nationwide, only about 3% of undocumented students finish college, mainly because of the cost. The Unafraid Scholarship was created by a group of teachers to help students from Boston Public Schools who’ve been accepted to college but aren’t eligible for federal financial aid.

MIRA, Dreamers and TPS holders hail historic U.S. House vote

Aminta Dream and Promise Act feature BOSTON, June 4, 2019 – The U.S. House of Representatives tonight approved the Dream and Promise Act, H.R. 6, which would provide permanent residency and a path to citizenship for more than 2.5 million immigrants across the nation, including over 45,000 in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts delegation was unanimous in its support, and as chair of the House Rules Committee, U.S. Rep. James McGovern was instrumental in laying the groundwork for a successful vote tonight. MIRA Executive Director Eva A. Millona celebrated this important victory:

“Tonight’s vote is historic,” she said. “It says, loud and clear, that Dreamers and TPS and DED holders belong in America – that this is their home as much as anyone’s, and they have a right to build their lives and pursue their dreams without fear that any day, they could be forced to leave. It’s been almost 9 years since the House first approved a DREAM Act, and not once since then has even a single chamber of Congress approved legislation to protect immigrants without harmful tradeoffs. That’s why this bill is so important.”

‘You belong’: Immigrants’ Day brings hundreds to advocate for a more just and welcoming Commonwealth

Doris Reina-Landaverde, flanked by a Harvard student and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, advocated for driver’s license legislation.

BOSTON, March 4, 2019 – Doris Reina-Landaverde was speaking for thousands of people, and she didn’t want to stand alone. So before she began, she asked students from Harvard University, where she works as a janitor, to join her at the podium, along with 32BJ SEIU District 615 leader Roxana Rivera and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

Then, her voice still shaky at first, she explained how Temporary Protected Status (TPS) – a humanitarian program that covers more than 12,000 immigrants in Massachusetts, about half of them Salvadorans like herself – had enabled them all to build lives and families here over the past two decades.

The Trump administration wants to end TPS for almost everyone, but a federal judge’s intervention has bought some time for TPS holders from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan (but not other countries); just last week, their protection was extended until January 2020.

But her paperwork still says Sept. 9, 2019. Her license expires on her birthday in December. And in Massachusetts, getting a driver’s license requires proof of lawful presence. TPS holders have already faced difficulties with renewals, even with the law and RMV leadership on their side.