{"id":148506,"date":"2019-07-03T09:18:09","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T13:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=148506"},"modified":"2021-03-02T14:10:27","modified_gmt":"2021-03-02T19:10:27","slug":"take-action-for-immigrants","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2019\/take-action-for-immigrants\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Action for Immigrants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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July 3, 2019<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\"\"The reprehensible treatment of immigrants\u2014of people\u2014has to end. And there are many ways for you to take action now to help.<\/p>\n

Volunteer:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Massachusetts:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition<\/a>\u00a0is the largest coalition in New England promoting the rights and integration of immigrants and refugees. With offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, MIRA advances this mission through education and training, leadership development, institutional organizing, strategic communications, policy analysis, and advocacy.<\/p>\n

Project Citizenship<\/a>\u00a0was created by a committed group of immigrant, community-based, and direct-service organizations to educate immigrants about the benefits of citizenship and to provide the services and resources necessary for eligible legal permanent residents (LPRs) to overcome the barriers to naturalization.<\/p>\n

Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN\/Beyond)<\/a>\u00a0is a network of faith communities, activist groups, and individuals working to reduce the escalating harm of our immigration system in the Boston area. Volunteers provide accompaniment, which can include support in court or at ICE check-ins, legal referrals, fundraising for bond or legal fees, letters of support from the community, rides for families to visit loved ones in detention, and logistical assistance with paperwork or bond payments. The network also helps with housing, transportation, and other immediate needs of people released on bond who have no other resources in the community.<\/p>\n

New York City:<\/strong>\u00a0The New York Immigration Coalition<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Mixteca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chicago:<\/strong> Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles:<\/strong> Mexican American Opportunity Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nationwide:<\/strong> Across the country, Catholic Charities<\/a> provides social services to immigrant populations.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Support Charitable Organizations:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Save the Children<\/a> has been advocating to protect children\u2019s rights at the border since June 2018, and are also continuing to address the root causes of migration through work in Central America and beyond. You can donate directly to the nonprofit or sponsor a child.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mariposas\u00a0<\/span>Sin Fronteras (Butterflies Without Borders)<\/a> works with LGBTQ immigrants, many of whom face discrimination and potential violence in their home countries.<\/p>\n

Border Angels<\/a>, based out of San Diego but operating along the Texas-Mexico border, leaves water bottles along trafficking routes, provides immigration consultations, organizes community events, and much more.<\/p>\n

Young Center for Immigrant Children\u2019s Rights<\/a>\u00a0focuses on providing services to the children of immigrants, and has advocated for the creation of a dedicated juvenile immigrant justice system.<\/p>\n

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)<\/a>, based in Los Angeles,\u00a0does it all: organize protests, provide legal services, and inform undocumented immigrants of their rights.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Support Legal Services:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

National Immigrant Justice Center<\/a> fights all the forms of injustice that undocumented immigrants face\u2014from employment discrimination and abuse to overly punitive enforcement measures that break up families.<\/p>\n

National Immigration Law Center<\/a>\u00a0wages legal battles to protect and improve immigrant rights. Their lawyers have won lawsuits to stop workplace discrimination, provide due process rights for detained migrants, and end state-backed racial profiling.<\/p>\n

Immigration Advocates Network<\/a> provides legal services, and also works to build a more robust legal community for undocumented legal services by supporting local groups and facilitating regional collaborations.<\/p>\n

ACLU Immigrant Health Campaign<\/a>\u00a0is part of the ACLU Immigrants\u2019 Rights Project, which is dedicated to expanding and enforcing the civil liberties and civil rights of immigrants, and to combating public and private discrimination against them.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Call Your Legislators:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Call on your local and state representatives to defend immigrant rights more broadly, and speak up for people who often do not have a political voice.<\/p>\n

US Congress<\/strong><\/h4>\n

You can find your US Senators and Representative and their contact info here<\/a>. The number you want to use is your legislator\u2019s local office number, rather than their number in Washington. Constituents and their concerns top the priority list at the local offices, so you’re most likely to have your voice heard if you call one of them.<\/p>\n

Two pro-refugee bills have been introduced in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate: The GRACE Act<\/a> and The NO BAN Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Call Script:<\/p>\n

Hello. May I speak with the staffer who handles refugee legislation? My name is ________. I\u2019m a constituent and I am deeply concerned about the Trump administration\u2019s policies which fail to protect refugees. The need for refugee resettlement has never been greater and the US response has been to abdicate our legal and moral responsibility. I urge Congress to honor the welcoming tradition of our country and to stand with refugees by ensuring that The Refugee Act of 1980 is carried out in good faith.<\/p>\n

There are two pieces of legislation currently before the [House\/Senate] that I am asking the Representative\/Senator to co-sponsor.<\/p>\n

The GRACE Act, H.R. 2146\/S.1088 would set a minimum Presidential Determination (PD) on refugee admissions of 95,000 each fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The NO BAN Act: H.R. 2214\/S.1123 would repeal the executive orders that have halted refugee admissions, banned individuals from several Muslim-majority countries, and barred individuals from seeking asylum between ports of entry.<\/p>\n

Can you tell me if the [Representative\/Senator] is a co-sponsor of either or both bills?\u00a0Can I count on the Representative\/Senator\u2019s support for refugees and for these two bills?<\/p>\n

Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts Legislature<\/strong><\/h4>\n

You can find your MA Representative and Senator and their contact info here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The MA legislature is currently considering the Safe Communities Act, which would avoid police entanglement in immigration matters and\u00a0protect due process for\u00a0all. Read more from the MIRA Coalition on the Safe Communities Act here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Call Script:<\/p>\n

Hello. My name is __________. I\u2019m a constituent of [Senator\/Representative] and I live in____________.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m calling to ask [Senator\/Representative\u2019s name] to support the Safe Communities Act, sponsored by Senator Jamie Eldridge (S.1401) and Representatives Ruth B. Balser and Liz Miranda (H.3573). This bill would protect the civil rights of all state residents by making sure our tax dollars and local police are not used to help deport immigrants.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts leadership has always helped shape the nation\u2019s consciousness on civil rights. Today, we need to see that kind of courage from our state legislators on behalf of our immigrant communities. Can I count on the [Senator\/Representative]\u2019s support?<\/p>\n

Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n

\u2014Emily Barbo<\/em><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Activist Lab\u2019s list of actions and organizations to help immigrants and refugees at the border and across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10989,"featured_media":148544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2433,2043,2430,2285,2283],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3517,3519,3531],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/148506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148506"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/148506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":192674,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/148506\/revisions\/192674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=148506"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=148506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}