Category: Coronavirus

Petición de Derechos Humanos Por Abuso Fronterizo →

CIEN ORGANIZACIONES INSTAN A LA COMISIÓN INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS A INVESTIGAR ABUSOS Y RACISMO EN LA FRONTERA DE ESTADOS UNIDOS Se necesita monitoreo internacional de los derechos humanos para proteger a los haitianos y los centroamericanos del maltrato y abuso estadounidense Una coalición diversa de cien (100) organizaciones de los...

100 Organizations File Human Rights Petition Against the U.S. →

ONE HUNDRED ORGANIZATIONS URGE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE ABUSES AND RACISM AT THE U.S. BORDER International Human Rights Monitoring Needed To Protect Haitian And Central American Refugees from U.S. Mistreatment and Abuse A diverse coalition of one hundred (100) organizations from across the United States and Latin America have...

Applauding Boston’s Vaccine Mandate →

The Suffolk County Superior Court has allowed the City of Boston's COVID-19 vaccine mandate to take effect. Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) applauds the ruling. We stand with Mayor Michelle Wu in the implementation of the vaccine mandate. Through LCR’s Medical-Legal Partnership with MGH’s Community Health Center in Chelsea, we have seen firsthand how...

New Bedford and Fall River Small Businesses Help Raise Vaccine Awareness →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and Point32Health announced that 15 diverse- and women-owned small businesses located in New Bedford and Fall River have been awarded grants to promote vaccine awareness in their communities.  “As many features of the pandemic become endemic, it is critical to promote the economic revitalization of...

Applauding Mayor Wu’s Indoor Vaccine Requirement →

Statement on Mayor Wu’s Indoor Vaccine Requirement  Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) commends Mayor Michelle Wu for today’s announcement of “B Together” — Boston’s COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement for Select Indoor Spaces. Communities of color have been hardest hit throughout the pandemic, making increased public health protections a critical civil rights issue....

Worse Than Expected: Fact-Finding Mission Explains Border Crises →

Fact-finding Delegation Documents Civil Rights Abuses Endured By Refugees At The U.S.-Mexico Border New Report Outlines Barriers to Requesting Asylum Exacerbating Humanitarian and Public Health Crises    In response to the current immigration crisis, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) sent a delegation on a fact-finding mission to witness and investigate...

Closing the Digital Divide →

FRAGMENTED ACCESS: LOW INCOME, STUDENTS OF COLOR SHOULDER EDUCATIONAL CHALLENGES AS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE WIDENS Tech Inequity Has Exacerbated Pandemic-Driven Lost Learning For Low-Income, Black and Latinx Students In Massachusetts As the new school year begins, education advocates, youth-serving organizations, and civil rights lawyers sent an open letter to the...

COVID-19 and Immigration Consequences →

Lawyers for Civil Rights has been providing legal support to medical and statistical research surrounding the impact of COVID-19 on immigrants. Important findings based on data gathered during the pandemic in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Phoenix has been published by The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The study involved 336 Latinx immigrants...

Victory! Federal Appeals Court Rejects Attempt to Hold Up School Decisions →

VICTORY! FEDERAL APPEALS COURT REJECTS PLAINTIFF’S REQUEST TO HOLD UP SCHOOL DECISIONS  In a unanimous decision issued on April 28, 2021, the Chief Judge and two Circuit Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected an eleventh-hour attempt by a group seeking to halt the...

Settlement Reached In COVID-19 Class Action Against Bristol County →

Please scroll below for the settlement agreement in Savino v Souza, the landmark class action lawsuit challenging unsafe conditions at the Bristol County House of Correction (BCHOC) in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Settlement Reached In Landmark COVID-19 Class Action Case Against Bristol County House of Correction The parties in Savino v...

Victory on Boston’s Selective Public Schools →

VICTORY! FEDERAL JUDGE UPHOLDS INTERIM PLAN FOR ADMISSION TO BOSTON’S HIGHLY SELECTIVE PUBLIC SCHOOLS In a decision issued on April 15, 2021, Judge William G. Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts soundly rejected efforts by a group seeking to overturn the Boston Public Schools’ Interim...

Volunteer for Vaccine Equity →

JOIN US IN THE TRENCHES: VOLUNTEER TO SUPPORT VACCINE EQUITY   Click here to volunteer. We're excited to announce that we reduced the number of people held in Bristol County's immigration detention facility from 148 to 7. This will help keep people safe during COVID-19. On the heels of this accomplishment, we...

State Must Provide More Vaccine Access →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) commends the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ commitment to increase trust, vaccine acceptance and administration rates through the Vaccine Equity Initiative. LCR particularly applauds the state’s efforts to accelerate the vaccination of essential workers. However, troubling statistics reveal persistent racial inequities in the state's current vaccination programs and the disproportionately...

Statement on the American Rescue Plan’s Disparities →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is deeply concerned to see that, under the much-lauded American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARP), low-income communities of color like Chelsea, Massachusetts, will receive far less federal funding than whiter, wealthier communities. As the Boston Globe recently reported, Chelsea, "with a reported population of just under 40,000"...

Mobile Vaccinations with Whittier Street Health Center →

WHITTIER STREET HEALTH CENTER LAUNCHES COVID-19 MOBILE VACCINATION WITH COMMUNITY-BASED GROUPS IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR IN BOSTON  The Whittier Street Health Center (WSHC), a comprehensive and innovative health care and wellness center championing equitable access to high quality, cost-effective health care for diverse populations, proudly announces its partnership with community-based...

Urgent Vaccine Administration Recommendations →

As the Commonwealth begins Phase Two of its statewide vaccination program, Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) and the Greater Boston Latino Network (GBLN) sent an open letter to the Governor's Office, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health with urgent vaccine administration...

Immigrants Improperly Excluded from Unemployment Benefits →

Lawyers for Civil Rights has identified repeated instances of immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) who are being improperly denied unemployment benefits by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance (DUA). The immigrants, including TPS recipients from Haiti, Honduras and El Salvador, are all legally permitted to receive unemployment benefits, particularly...

Eviction Crisis in Massachusetts →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is encouraged to see that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has responded to demands that LCR made on behalf of renters of color and low-income renters, by updating the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program, which provides life-saving emergency housing assistance during the COVID-19...