Latino Community Of Chelsea

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Latino Community of Chelsea, MA.

The city of Chelsea is located two miles outside of Boston, MA. and has a total land area of 2.21 square miles. Chelsea has been named the smallest city in Massachusetts and as of 2010 was listed number twenty-six on the list of most densely populated cities or towns in the entire country with a 2010 census population total of 35,177. The city of Chelsea is home to countless of undocumented residents which makes it difficult to accurately assess the number of individuals that actually live in the city. I will be concentrating on the Latino populations that hail from Puerto Rico, Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala and the reasons as to why they may have chosen Chelsea, Massachusetts as their new home. Puerto …show more content…

Due to the civil war and natural disasters such as tropical storm Agatha which took place in May 2010, many of the displaced Guatemalans were given Temporary Protection Status (TPS) which allowed them to enter the country legally for a certain amount of time. Although many of the Guatemalans knew their stay here in the United States was short-lived, many of them settled in with their families as well as their new jobs so they decided to stay past their exit date making them what many deem “illegal”. Massachusetts labeled as a liberal Democratic state is appealing to many undocumented individuals. Offering services such as Refugee Resettlement Programs and Immigrant Service Agencies, Massachusetts is considered a “safe haven” amongst many undocumented immigrants who are in the United States. As with the Puerto Rican population, Guatemalans were discovering work in low-level skilled jobs that required manpower. The combination of Massachusetts policies on immigration, the growing Latino population in the City of Chelsea and the close proximity to Boston attracted Guatemalans to move up north and into the State of …show more content…

Centro Latino, directed by Juan Vega, offers a variety of programs including adult education courses, ESL and computer classes, citizenship and immigration services as well as HIV/AIDS and drug/alcohol counseling and support. The Chelsea Collaborative led by Juan Vega’s cousin Gladys Vega, also runs a human service organization that helps newly arrived immigrants with services that may be important to them at the time or in the future. There is a department of Children and Families that helps families with questions regarding school, healthcare and services for the family. The Chelsea Tenant Association helps with housing and tenant/landlord disputes. CLIC (Chelsea Latino Immigrant Committee) helps undocumented workers know and understand their rights by running Worker Centers. There are employers who take advantage of these individuals and violate their rights since they feel there is no consequence since the workers they hire are undocumented. Although these workers are undocumented, these employers must understand that they have human rights and a complaint could still be filed with the Attorney General’s office to look into the

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