KEEP HATE OUT OF OUR STATE!
NO TO S. 2061!
Three ways to TAKE ACTION to stop S. 2061:
1. 2/28 11am – Rally at the State House. Click HERE for details.
2. 2/27 All day – Call-in day to the Senate Joint Committee (617) 722-1639. Click HERE for details.
3. Talk to your family, friends, and neighbors about the negative effects of the bill and encourage them to take action!
See below for more information:
S. 2061 is a bill under review in the Massachusetts State House that seeks to criminalize immigrants families in the Commonwealth and deny essential services to hardworking, taxpaying families. Under the guise of enhancing public safety the bill would facilitate the implementation of the controversial federal Secure Communities program in the Bay State and enact additional measures designed to isolate immigrant families from housing, education and legal protections. While targeting undocumented immigrants the bill would also severely affect documented immigrants and citizens in its implementation against mixed status families.
S. 2061 would:
Ban immigrant families from accessing public housing by…
· Barring families with any member whose immigration status is undocumented or unconfirmed from accessing public housing, despite citizen or legal resident family members (Section 12)
Restrict college access by…
· Limiting in-state tuition rates to US citizens and green card holders/applicants, thereby cutting off many categories of legal immigrants, as well as undocumented immigrants, from affordable higher education (Section 21)
Further harm police-community relations and undermine our safety by…
· Requiring the verification of immigration status for any person detained by law enforcement for any period of time, and the transmission of this information to ICE (Sections 8 and 18)
· Enhancing the Attorney General’s role in enforcing immigration law, thereby discouraging undocumented people from reporting crimes like domestic violence (Sections 8 and 18)
· Allowing the reporting of suspected violations to the Attorney General’s office using a public complaint form (Section 13)
· Creating a “Secure Communities Liaison” position in the state government to facilitate the implementation of Secure Communities (Section 19)
Enhance criminal penalties for ID-related infractions by…
· Increasing fines and allowing jail time for first, second, and third offenses of driving without a license (Section 7)
· Allowing seizure of vehicles belonging to those convicted of driving without a license (Section 10)
· Increasing fines and jail sentences for use of a false ID to obtain employment (Section 15)
For the full text of the bill: http://www.malegislature.gov/Bills/187/Senate/S02061