About

BACKGROUND
In October of 2007, a number of Boston area community leaders came together to discuss ways to galvanize support for immigrant rights in Massachusetts given the current political climate. During this meeting, the idea to initiate a campaign to welcome immigrants in Massachusetts modeled after similar campaigns in Iowa and Tennessee was proposed. These successful initiatives formed broad-based coalitions from all walks of life – community/civic, government, business, labor, and faith to support principles of human rights, human dignity, inclusion, and multiculturalism. After several conversations it was agreed that the goal of Welcoming Massachusetts is to make evident the fact that Massachusetts is a Welcoming State and there is political will to pass concrete, sensible, pro-immigrant legislation that serves all residents. Successful implementation of an intense 6-month campaign to gather pledges from each legislative district in the commonwealth will build the new partnerships we need, and lay the ground for a range of legislative victories.

OVERVIEW
Massachusetts played a leading role in establishing the moral and legal framework that gave birth to a new nation, the United States. The core values upon which the Untied States was founded were framed in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which states in part that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [human beings] are created equal and endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” This historic document has inspired people throughout generations and across the world to advance the cause of democracy, liberty, and the respect for the basic dignity of every human being.

Today, the core values which underpin American democracy are in peril. A rhetorical war has dehumanized immigrants by portraying them as “illegals” while our immoral and broken immigration law is placed above the core values on which the United States was founded. The failure of the U.S. Congress and the White House to enact responsible, sensible and humane immigration reform has given way to a de facto policy of harsh enforcement measures and it has created a vacuum at the state and local level.

Welcoming Massachusetts has come to the conclusion that it is urgent to take a moral stand on immigrants and immigration policy because we believe that the current discourse regarding immigrants and the current enforcement only immigration policy are violating the core principles upon which the United States was founded and creating much suffering among people, their families and communities.

STRATEGY
Using a set of consensus principles as an education platform, Welcoming Massachusetts will aim to gather organizational and individual signatures in support of a pledge to make Massachusetts a welcoming state. Organizations and leaders will spread Welcoming Massachusetts principles and message through organizing, education and dialogue. Organizations and individuals joining this effort will be encouraged to have conversations regarding immigration and immigrant rights with their memberships, constituencies and/or communities in ways that are most appropriate for them.

Once our goal is reached, we will have a public action that will manifest the collective power and intention of Massachusetts residents in their desire to create a more human, welcoming, and respecting environment for immigrants in the state. We believe that this will create the conditions for humane and sensible public policies regarding immigrants.