This AP article is already two weeks old, but thanks to FAIR (Federation for Immigration Reform) for bringing it to my attention. I had been wondering where Massachusetts new Senator stood on Immigration and now I guess we know!
BOSTON—For months, immigrant advocacy groups like the Chelsea Collaborative and Berkshire Immigrant Center have been gearing up to push lawmakers on state and federal immigration reforms.
They’ve held statewide forums, marched in Washington, D.C., and organized rallies with hopes of seeing the major immigration overhaul promised by Gov. Deval Patrick and President Barack Obama.
But after the historic election victory of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate, those illusions may be evaporating. Political observers say Brown, who ran on a platform opposing some of those reforms, has emboldened conservative voters, and they will likely table reforms in the near future.
“Much of the angry and frustration of voters, particularly those on the right, are clearly aligned with forces that oppose immigration reform,” said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at University of Massachusetts-Boston. “They are vocal opponents of anything other than enforcement.”
Watanabe said it’s now doubtful that Patrick and state lawmakers will spend political capital pushing any controversial proposals in an election year shortly after Brown’s victory.
Patrick has said he is planning to seek re-election this fall, but is struggling with sagging poll numbers.
During his campaign, Brown said he opposed granting driver’s licenses and in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants — ideas Patrick vowed to support in November after receiving recommendations from an advisory panel. As a state senator, Brown also introduced legislation that would have required proof of citizenship or right to work in the U.S. for wage enforcement cases.
“His record is concerning,” said Eva Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrants & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, a group that represents 130 immigrant groups.
So, who are these lobbyists at the Massachusetts Immigrants & Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA), I wanted to know. I checked their website here. Then, as usual, I went to their most recent Form 990, here. Note that they are operating on about $1.5 million in donations, from whom, I can’t tell. But, I noticed the name of the head honcho —Ali Noorani. Where had I seen that name before? Here, I had written about Noorani, a Pakistani Muslim, now head of the National Immigration Forum here (and note here in this old Discover the Networks summary about the Forum, their is Soros funding involved). I sure hope MIRA isn’t taking foreign funding, that wouldn’t look so hot.
I found that Ali Noorani has incorporated three non-profits in Massachusetts (site won’t let me link it, you can check it out yourself). There is no incorporation for MIRA though but its address is the same as one of the three others Noorani incorporated with the Mass. Secretary of States Office. I think I’ll have to do a little more exploration into this puzzling turn of events tomorrow (if the blizzard doesn’t shut me down!).
And, here we have Noorani and Grover Norquist sharing the podium at the ‘Storming the Hill’ conference in Washington last June where business leaders pushed for Amnesty. I wrote about that meeting, here, in July.
Then, I had to laugh, the AP article says Gov. Deval Patrick (concerned for his deteriorating poll numbers) has backed off of his earlier immigration reform proposals. But, check this out at the blog 24 Ahead, it wasn’t too long ago that Patrick had 131 DEMANDS for immigration reform.