REV. LIKENS IMMIGRANTS TO THOSE WHO HELPED BUILD THE “OLD AMERICA”
By Kyle Cheney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, APRIL 6, 2011…..Urging diverse minority groups to unite and exert their influence on policymakers in Massachusetts and across the country, the head of a prominent interfaith group quoted scripture and drew cheers and applause at a State House rally Thursday with calls for “a pathway to citizenship” for illegal immigrants in America.
“When William Bradford and the Mayflower pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they did not bring any immigration papers. When John Winthrop arrived in 1630 with the next wave of New Englanders … they were not met with a wall built to keep them out,” said Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. “Just as undocumented immigrants from Europe in the person of John Winthrop and William Bradford and undocumented immigrants from Africa … helped to build the old America in the then-New World, undocumented immigrants today are needed to build a new America in this new global world, and we need to say yes to that.”
Hamilton offered the keynote remarks at the foot of the capitol's Grand Staircase during the 15th-annual Immigrants’ Day on Beacon Hill, pounding the podium and raising his voice to a loud rasp as he equated today’s climate on immigration issues, punctuated by a years-long divide on reform plans in Washington, to the biblical story of the Good Samaritan, who rescued a man who had “fallen among thieves.”
“You have recently fallen among thieves,” he told the crowd. “Some of them are Republicans and some of them are Democrats on Capitol Hill. I say that the rest of us, African Americans and all the rest of us, have to be, for you, your good Samaritans. If we do not stop [to help], what will happen not only to you but what will happen to our country? We need your diversity, we need your capacity to help us to compete. We need you. Not just the other way around.”
Hamilton’s call landed on a receptive audience that included Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Jamaica Plain) and Rep. James O’Day (D-Worcester) who spoke in support of programs for immigrants, like English as a Second Language courses, adult education, and anti-domestic violence programs.
Lawmakers in the House narrowly rejected plans last year to implement more stringent identity checks for people seeking state services, a plan opposed by immigrant groups as discriminatory but backed by lawmakers who argued that services were being abused by ineligible people. The Senate passed an even more sweeping plan that would impose sanctions on employers that hire illegal workers, but the proposal was largely scrapped during budget negotiations with the House.
Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, noted that immigrant groups had been buoyed in recent weeks by Census data showing that Latino and Asian American communities, in particular, had surged over the last 10 years
“The road has been rocky and we have traveled through dark valleys as well as through sunny hills,” she said. “We are organizing our shared growth, our shared interest, by making our theme, ‘sharing power together.’ ”
Immigrant advocates plan to press lawmakers to provide $50 million in funding for health care coverage for certain legal immigrants, $27 million for adult basic education and ESL programs, $15 million for an employment services program and $6.4 million for a refugee and immigrant safety program.
Gov. Deval Patrick has voiced his support for immigrants’ causes, touting his administration’s “New Americans Agenda” – a 131-point plan that he has promised to implement by the end of his term and includes hot-button proposals to permitting illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and access in-state tuition rates at state colleges, proposals the governor has said would require changes in federal law.
The issues have failed to gain traction in recent years, and there is little evidence of an appetite for them within legislative leadership.
All credit due to Kyle Cheney
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
No comments:
Post a Comment