‘Defeating anti-immigrant amendments is not enough’

The House vote came just six days after a large demonstration by children and clergy to advocate for immigrant families.

BOSTON, April 26, 2018 – Yesterday afternoon, the Mass. House of Representatives defeated all proposed anti-immigrant amendments to the House Ways & Means budget. But the House also chose not to adopt new protections for immigrants.

Eva A. Millona, executive director of MIRA, the largest coalition in New England promoting the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees, made the following statement:

“We are relieved that the Mass. House of Representatives defeated all the anti-immigrant budget amendments that would have entangled police in civil immigration enforcement and punished cities and towns that protect immigrants.

“The strong, bipartisan roll-call vote (145 to 10) against one such proposal, Rep. Jim Lyons’ amendment #347, shows that in Massachusetts, there is no political will to enlist our police in the federal crusade against immigrants. The Supreme Judicial Court’s Lunn v. Commonwealth decision, which barred law enforcement from honoring ICE detainers, still stands.

“But defeating anti-immigrant amendments is not enough. Immigrants in our Commonwealth urgently need new legal protections. To do nothing in the face of grave injustice is unacceptable. We will continue the fight in the Senate.”

A show of strength – and a call to action at the State House

Alejandra St. Guillen, director of the Boston Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, served as emcee. “Remember, this is your house,” she said – regardless of citizenship or immigration status.

The 22nd annual Immigrants’ Day at the State House was both a reckoning with the devastating impact of the Trump administration, and a reminder of the importance of state- and local-level action.

BOSTON, April 4, 2018 – The theme of the day was “Immigrants get the job done,” and dozens of black-and-orange posters offered proof in numbers.

1 in 5 workers in Massachusetts is an immigrant; 1 in 5 entrepreneurs, too; 59% of medical and life scientists. Immigrants in our state pay $8.4 billion in federal taxes each year, and $3.5 billion in state and local taxes. 7,100 workers are Salvadorans or Haitians with Temporary Protected Status.

And that’s just immigrants today. As Senate President Harriette Chandler put it, “Immigrants are not some other. Immigrants are us… Massachusetts has been built on the backs of immigrants from across the globe.”

REAL ID and Mass. driver’s licenses: March 2018 update

In 2016 Massachusetts passed legislation to implement REAL ID, a federal standard adopted by Congress in 2005. Under the new law, state residents will have two options for their driver’s license or ID card: a REAL ID-compliant one, or a standard Massachusetts state license. The new system is effective on March 26, 2018. 

If you already have a valid, unexpired Mass. driver’s license or ID on March 26, it will still be valid until its expiration date.

The changes affect everyone, but are particularly important for non-citizens to understand. 

Key differences between a REAL ID and a standard license:

• The REAL ID licenses will be marked “valid for federal identification purposes” with a gold star in the upper right-hand corner.
• If you want a REAL ID license or ID, you must apply in person, whereas five-year standard licenses can be renewed completely online in most cases.
• Starting in October 2020, only licenses/IDs that are REAL ID-compliant will be accepted as identification at airport security checkpoints. You will NOT be able to board an airplane using a standard Mass. license or ID.
• You will still be able to use a valid passport (from any country), an EAD card, a permanent resident card (green card), or any of the other documents listed to board flights or as ID to enter a federal building.
• Until October 2020, your standard license or ID can still be used to board an airplane; in federal buildings where ID is required, you already need REAL ID or one of the other federally accepted documents listed above.

Congress can’t leave Dreamers in the lurch as DACA ends

Paola with her son. Read her #HumansofDACA post here.

Make no mistake: Young people are losing their work permits and legal protections every day now. Only Congress can avert this disaster. 

Paola, a student at MassBay Community College, had hoped to start nursing school this spring, but she was a nervous wreck, so she had to postpone her entrance exam.

She’d put herself out there – at rallies in Boston and in Washington, in her local paper, on the TV news – hoping to build support for Dreamers. She’d taken abuse online. But even with just weeks left until the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Congress had yet to step up.

So she went back to work, enrolled in two classes, and – taking advantage of a federal court injunction that reopened DACA renewals – she applied for two more years of protection. She also put her 4-year-old son on a plane to Bolivia, to meet her mother and sisters, whom she hasn’t seen in almost 15 years. As a DACA recipient, she’s not allowed to leave the country, but he’s a U.S. citizen.

“I cried when I dropped him off at the airport,” she said. “He asked, ‘Mommy why can’t you come with me? I want you to come with me.’ I thought, ‘How do I explain this to this little guy?’”