Residents Telling Congressman Lynch to Close Detention Camps

Local grassroots organization JP Progressives will be visiting Congressman Stephen Lynch's Boston office on July 25 to specifically ask him to close the immigrant detention camps on the southern border. "We are joining with other constituents in the district and hope to actually speak with Representative Lynch," said Anne Rousseau, co-chair of the JP Progressives. "The conditions at the detention camps are unacceptable and that has to change," said Molly Rose Tarpey, Director of Communications for Congressman Lynch, to Jamaica Plain News. "He believes that anyone in U.S. custody must be treated humanely and with dignity. In addition, the asylum cases need to be adjudicated expeditiously."

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BTU Unafraid Educators Help Undocumented Students Thru Workshops, Scholarships and More

A group of Jamaica Plain educators are part of an organization that is fighting for the rights of undocumented Boston Public School students. Jamaica Plain residents Adriana Costache and Maya Taft-Morales have been working with BTU Unafraid Educators for more than two years, or as Maya Taft-Morales described it -- since Trump was elected. Both fielded questions about their involvement in the organization. Q: What school do you teach in, and what do you teach? Costache: I teach math and science to English learners at Fenway High School.

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Sánchez, Catching Heat, ‘Disappointed’ Immigration Protections Not in State Budget

During his first budget go-around as chair of the powerful Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means, state Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez (D-15th Suffolk) is taking heat in some corners due to immigration provisions being stripped from the state budget during House-Senate negotiations. In response, Sánchez says he strongly supports immigrant communities and is unhappy that the budget rider, which among other things would have prohibited police from asking people their immigration status unless required by federal or state law, ultimately did not appear in the approved state budget. "As a leader on this type of work and sponsor of this legislation, I am disappointed but not defeated. I identify with these immigrant communities on a personal level: They are my friends, family, and neighbors," Sánchez told Jamaica Plain News. "Hearing the appalling stories from the border reminds me of what I saw working on the Mexico/California border in the 1980s, and I want to do everything I can to help.

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Todd Miller: “Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security”

Join us to hear a bold and unified way, through the lens of climate change, to look at our immigration issues in America and internationally.Veteran Arizona border journalist Todd Miller has covered hot spots in the US and around the planet.  He has worked on immigration and border issues from both sides of the U.S. Mexico divide for organizations such as BorderLinks, Witness for Peace, and NACLA. His new book, Storming the Wall, investigates how the ecological crisis is creating millions climate refugees who are challenging the developed world’s borders and resources. Miller explores how a sense of threat in the United States is giving rise to high-tech surveillance fortresses and fueling calls for an ever-expanding border wall. This program is free and will serve light refreshments to all.

Bilingual Public Conversation on Value of Boston’s Immigrants on Thursday in JP

WBUR's Louise Kennedy will moderate a conversation on the value of, and challenges to Boston's rich immigrant community inspired by Nora Valdez's Immigration Nation art exhibit at the Urbano Project. Immigration Nation is a visual art installation that consists of more than 400 suitcases made by immigrants who came to the US. To create the exhibition Valdez held workshops for several months reaching out to people of all ages, asking them to create their own suitcase that showed their own personal immigration story. Valdez led workshops at Urbano Project, Boston Evening Academy in Roxbury, the Woods Mullen Homeless Shelter in Dorchester, the Fenway High School, her own studio and throughout Egleston Square. Kennedy will be joined by guest panelists Alejandra St. Guillen (Director of Immigrant Advancement, City of Boston), Anthony Marino (Director of Legal Services, Irish International Immigrant Center), and artist Nora Valdez.

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Top countries of origin for foreign-born Bostonians

Meet Your New Favorite Map of Jamaica Plain

Who says nothing good ever came from the Boston Redevelopment Authority? Behold your new favorite map of Jamaica Plain and Boston. This map shows the top countries of origin for foreign-born Bostonians. As you'd expect, the Dominican Republic is far and away number one for Jamaica Plain. My Dominican acquaintances tell me JP has always felt like home.

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