Worcester Immigrant Coalition

“Secure Communities” is Wrong for Worcester

mateo — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 03:05:34 +0000

The Secure Communities program (S-Comm) automatically checks fingerprints of every arrested person taken at booking against Immigration databases. Based on these database checks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) then transfers people suspected of being deportable straight into the detention and deportation system from the criminal justice system.

In the deportation system, people are often sent far away to remote detention centers— with no loved ones or even lawyers to help defend against deportation. ICE claims that this program is intended to remove only the most violent criminal immigrants, but the majority of people affected by this program have no convictions, or have committed only low-level misdemeanors.

Worcester is a city built by immigrants- Secure Communities is Wrong for Worcester!

JOIN THE WORCESTER IMMIGRANT COALITION in petitioning the Worcester City Council. Email us to get involved or find out about our next meeting.

Download the Petition to Worcester City Council

MORE RESOURCES:
“Secure Communities by the Numbers” Article (1.2mb PDF) - Download Here.

Secure Communities Costs Los Angeles County More Than $26 Million A Year: Report

Support for Students eligible for deferred action!

mateo — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 02:49:24 +0000

If you know any students who need help with their deferred action applications:

1) Community Legal Aid in Worcester- (508) 752-3718 to set up an appointment. Services are free, but we can only represent people who live in Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, Berkshire, or Franklin County and whose income is below 125% of the federal poverty guidelines.
2) Lutheran Social Services- (508) 754-1121. Donation of $140 for providing assistance with the application – but this can be waived for individuals whose incomes are under 187.5% of poverty.

Community Legal Aid may also be offering a clinic in Worcester.

Mayday 2012 / Primero de Mayo 2012

mateo — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:33:13 +0000

Over 100 people from more than 25 organizations/movements came together to rally for Worker and Immigrant Justice!
¡Más de 80 personas de más de 25 organizaciones / movimientos se juntaron para manifestar por los derechos de trabajadores y inmigrantes!

Telegram & Gazette coverage
Video coverage for TV3 at minute 1:30

Unique Individuals representing Ivory Coast and Haiti

Manny Gines from Carpenters Union Local 107 Speaking about the Resonsible Employers Ordinance

Photo credit: Vaughn Collymore, Media Specialist at Future Focus Media Co-op

May 1st / 1er de Mayo
4:30pm
Worcester City Hall

Organizations Co-Sponsoring/Organizing:
1. Worcester Immigrant Coalition
2. East African Community Outreach
3. Carpenters Union Local 107
4. Neighbor to Neighbor
5. Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center
6. Worcester World Cup / Cultural Exchange Through Soccer
7. Worcester Roots Project
8. EPOCA
9. Progressive Labor Party
10. Stone Soup
11. Worcester Unemployment Action Group
12. Mosaic Culture Complex
13. Occupy Worcester
14. Southeast Asian Coalition’s Youth Effect group
15. ACLU of Massachusetts
16. Education Association of Worcester
17. The Committee for Progressive Legislation
18. African CDC
19. Comite de Vecinos of the Cleghorn Neighborhood Center
20. Iglesia Cristiana de la Comunidad / Christian Community Church
21. Worcester Interfaith
22. African Community Education

Download PDF color english flyer here.

Mayday 2011

mateo — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:10:25 +0000

Thank you to all who made Mayday Worcester 2011 a success!
A Peoples’ Festival to Celebrate the Real Labor Day
Mayday / International Workers Day

Video from the event: Bhutanese dancers #1 | Bhutanese dancers #2

Location: YMCA Family Park on Murray Ave (behind Central Branch YMCA - in case of rain inside YMCA Central Branch, 766 Main St, Worcester)
Time: 4pm
Date: April 30th, 2011
Organized by: Worcester Immigrant Coalition, Mosaic Culture Complex, YMCA Men’s Health & Family Program, Ciclovida and Worcester Earn-A-Bike / Co-sponsored by: Worcester Roots Project, Stone Soup.

Featuring performers including Jarabe del Sol (of ReadNex Poetry Squad), MURGA LA QUE TE DIJE, Lucelia de Jesus and SPEAKERS include members of the Brazilian team Ciclovida.

DOWNLOAD FLYERS:

Full size printable poster (PDF - 3.7mb) | Poster Image (smaller JPG - 300kb)
Half-sheet black & white flyer (jpg - 250kb).

BOTH ENGLISH / SPANISH:
Half page black & white English/Spanish | Mitad de la hoja blanco y negro (PDF - 1.1mb)

Volante en Español / Flyer in Spanish:
Mitad de la hoja blanco y negro (JPG - 300kb) | Posters para imprimir (PDF - 3.7mb)

“Secure” Communities Public Meeting in Worcester

anita — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 14:19:51 +0000

Boston Globe, 2-27-2011

WORCESTER — A top state public safety official apologized to a crowd of 120 yesterday in a room at the public library for a failure by Governor Deval Patrick’s administration to properly publicize a controversial national immigration policy slated to take effect this year.

John Grossman, undersecretary for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, delivered the apology at the first of 10 public-input meetings scheduled to discuss the Secure Communities program, a federal plan to take fingerprint identity information that local law enforcement already provides to the FBI and share it with immigration authorities.

“We blew it. I apologize.’’ Grossman said during his opening remarks.

“What we need is comprehensive immigration reform in this country,’’ he added. “The system is broken. I’m not sure Secure Communities is the problem. It’s the latest iteration of it.’’

Patrick declined to sign a 2009 memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that called for state leaders across the nation to “establish a solid foundation’’ for “bringing counties and police departments online.’’

“The governor has not signed anything yet,’’ Grossman said. “This [public discussion] process is going to go forward, and then he’ll make a decision.’’

He said the series of meetings to be held into the summer in communities including Springfield, New Bedford, and Lawrence were spurred by the administration’s failure to communicate effectively with the public about the details of the plan when federal officials sent Patrick the memo in 2009.

Grossman said it is unclear how much of the program will be optional for states, and whether the governor will have recourse should he resist the plan while immigration officials activate the system this year, as they plan to do.

State officials said in December that State Police would join Secure Communities this year, although it was unclear when. The program is currently in effect only in Boston, where it was launched as a pilot program in 2006.

The Obama administration plans to make the program mandatory nationwide by 2013.

In a phone interview Friday, Josiane Martinez, director of specialized media in Patrick’s office, said, “We’ve made clear that we will follow the law at all times, but we do want to collect the feedback.’’

The vast majority of audience comments protested the policy. Some who spoke said it will spur racial profiling by police and make discrimination by employers easier.

The policy has also angered local worker and immigrant rights groups, which also say it will foster discrimination and profiling.

“I think everybody in this room agrees, we don’t want any violent criminals in our communities,’’ said Antonio Massa of Millis, 33, who was the first in the audience to rise and speak out during more than an hour of public comment.

“The governor, if he is concerned, he can’t just say, ‘Oh it’s a federal policy.’ I want him to show leadership on this issue, and say until this program is working, we’re not going anywhere near this,’’ he said.

Laura Garza of East Boston, 52, a former candidate for vice president on the Socialist Workers Party ticket, said she believes programs such as Secure Communities target immigrant workers.

“The effect is that bosses use this to their advantage,’’ she said. “I believe that there is one action we can take: to send a message to the federal government that this is a bad policy, that we want nothing to do with it, and that we should get rid of it.’’

The audience, a diverse group including many Spanish-speakers, occasionally applauded after the most rousing comments. Some held signs, while others waited in a line more than a dozen deep for their turn to speak at the microphone.

Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refuge Advocacy Coalition and a panelist, pointed to statistics from a pilot of the program in Boston that has been active since 2006 and said the efforts are not catching the right people.

In a recent reporting period, 38 percent of the deported individuals were convicted of nonviolent minor crimes, the least serious category of offenses the system tracks.

“This is an indication that the program is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing, which is going after people with criminal convictions,’’ Millona said.

In Boston, where more than 27 percent of people are born outside the United States, police have said hundreds of violent offenders have been turned over to immigration officials.

Last October, Boston Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said he was confident that the more than 500 people netted by the database were involved in criminal activity, although federal records showed that only about half of them were picked up for violent offenses.

Davis’s information could not be independently verified because of privacy laws protecting the alleged offenders’ identities.

In other communities in Massachusetts, where about 12 percent of the population statewide is foreign-born, according to Census data, local police also have resisted the program.

Yvette M. Tolson, a descendent of the Pakachoag-Nipmuc praying Indians, came to the meeting with her husband, Eugene, and daughter, to speak against the measure, but supported Patrick’s approach to navigating it in having the meetings.

Patrick “is allowing us to work together, to allow us to have a consensus as a group,’’ Tolson said. “That’s the only way we can have peace.’’

The last meeting is scheduled on July 9 in Boston.

———————————————-

Sign the on-line petitions demanding that the U.S. sign the UN Convention on Migrant Workers Rights

http://www.bostonmayday.org

Worcester Immigrant Coalition

mateo — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:55:28 +0000

Who We Are

The Worcester Immigrant Coalition is a grassroots, autonomous organization dedicated to advocating immigrant rights in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Our goals and values:

Leadership development:

We are dedicated to the leadership development of immigrants. We also nourish and defend the leadership of African Americans, Native Americans and Working Class pleople independently of their race, religious affiliation, and sexual orientation.

Grassroots organizing:

We are part of a Global movement for social justice represented in the World Social Foruns and networks led by people of color, women and youth.

Self-determination of our communities, our lives and our bodies:

We defend the right to find a sustainable and safe livelihood. We support initiatives that enhance people’s self-determination over their communities, lives and bodies. In this perspective, we support initiatives of food and energy sovereignty, such as community gardens and food and energy cooperatives that promotes collective economic prosperity.

Mayday 2010

anita — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:48:44 +0000

Get on the bus!

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

Bus to Boston area rallies leaves Worcester City Hall at 11am (returns 6pm. $10 sug. donation)

Reserve your seat/more information: 508-840-0044

Sábado 1ro de mayo, 2010

El bus a la marcha en Boston sale de Worcester City Hall a las 11am (vuelve 6pm, $10 sugerido)

Reserve su asiento / más información: 508-840-0044

Mayday 2010 Flyer

Join us for a Mayday Planning Meeting:

When: Thursday, April 22^nd, 2010 at 6pm

Where: Pleasant St Neighborhood Network Center, 301 Pleasant St

Support Boston area Mayday demonstrations!

Boston Mayday Committee is organizing a march on Boston Common.
Chelsea, East Boston, and Everett May 1st Coalition is organizing a march, rally, and workers’ celebration.

May 1st is a historic day marking workers’ struggles around the world.
Originated in the United States to commemorate the struggle for the eight-hour work day, it has become a forum that immigrant communities have adopted across this nation to demand rights and dignity for all workers.

FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION for MAYDAY

Film: Made in L.A.
Saturday April 24th
6:00-8:00 pm
The Woo Church
911 Main st, Worcester
Potluck- free event

Proyección de Made in L.A.
Sábado 24 de abril
6:00-8:00 pm
The Woo Church
911 Main st, Worcester
Potluck – evento gratis

Bilingual Flyer | English Flyer | Volante en Español

Worcester’s Immigrant Coalition presented at the Social Justice Roundtable on Thursday, March 25^th, 2010 at the YWCA, Worcester. The coalition is available to do presentations on the issue of immigration, root causes, current movements for immigrant justice. Contact us for more info.

Rally in Washington, March 21st

mateo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:30:47 +0000

Join the Worcester Immigrant Coalition
for a rally in Washington DC on Sunday, March 21st, 2010
Show congress that it is time for Immigration Reform NOW!
People from all over the United States will meet to tell Congress and the White House that we will fight and they will have to pass an immigration reform.

We are Coordinating with Fitchburg, to reserve a seat, more info:
Cost : $ 15
kids 12 and under free menores de 12 años no pagan (informar a Joana Dos Santos cuantos niños participaran).

When: leaving saturday 20th at night and coming back sunday night
Where: Cleghorn Neighborhood Center
18 Fairmount St. Fitchburg
for more information contact Joana Dos Santos al 978-342-2069 ext. 208 o joana_d@cleghorncenter.org

saulo — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:54:53 +0000

Massachusetts Resist the Raids! Network

Retreat

Date: Jan 30^th, 2009

Time: 12-5pm

Venue: Encuentro 5 - 33 Harrison Ave, 5^th Floor. Boston, MA

We are inviting all immigrant rights organizations in Massachusetts to join us in strategic planning session for 2010.

In the first year of Obama’s presidency, we were told that the Department of Homeland Security will divert its immigration law enforcement work to employers. To the contrary, we are witnessing that ICE is still harassing our communities and family members. The covert and sudden nature of recent raid in Foxboro continues to traumatize our communities.

Also, our brothers and sisters from Haiti that have been criminalized have received no assurance that their deportation procedures will be revoked, as their homeland is completely destroyed and chances to rebuild their lives are slim. TPS should be granted for all.

Mostly important, we still do not have a strong signal from the Obama administration and our state representatives in Congress about a fair and just immigration reform. In Massachusetts, advocacy groups have been working with Rep. Gutierrez in a new bill.

The current political scenario in the United States during Obama administration gives little hope. It is time for us in Massachusetts to strengthen our work through a united and coordinated manner.

The Massachusetts Resist the Raids! Network wants to work with you to accomplish our common goals. Resist the Raids! Network is a grassroots-led effort to stop the raids and deportations in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Spread the word about our retreat and organize a small delegation from your town or neighborhood to Boston in January 30^th.

Get involved / Participen!

mateo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:00:23 +0000

The Worcester Immigrant Coalition meets every 4th Thursday of the Month. // La Coalición de Inmigrantes de Worcester se reune todos los cuartos jueves del mes.

“This Land is Our Land”: Intersections of Native, Immigrant and Racial Justice
Monday, October 12th
6:00pm
27 Sever St

5:30 at Elm Park outreach

Popular Eduction / Know Your Rights!
Immigration Reform now!
Resist the Raids!
Worker Justice

Educación Popular / Conozca sus Derechos!
Reforma Inmigratoria ahora!
Para la redadas!
Justicia para trabajadores!

Worcester Immigrant Coalition

“Secure Communities” is Wrong for Worcester

JOIN THE WORCESTER IMMIGRANT COALITION in petitioning the Worcester City Council. Email us to get involved or find out about our next meeting.

Support for Students eligible for deferred action!

Mayday 2012 / Primero de Mayo 2012

Mayday 2011

Thank you to all who made Mayday Worcester 2011 a success! A Peoples’ Festival to Celebrate the Real Labor Day Mayday / International Workers Day

“Secure” Communities Public Meeting in Worcester

Worcester Immigrant Coalition

Mayday 2010

Rally in Washington, March 21st

Get involved / Participen!

Thank you to all who made Mayday Worcester 2011 a success!
A Peoples’ Festival to Celebrate the Real Labor Day
Mayday / International Workers Day