Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Paying Illegals $575 To Become ‘Organizers’… And US-Born Residents Are Excluded

Boston taxpayers are funding a program that teaches immigrants how to organize, lobby city officials and advocate for political change, then hands participants $575 for completing it. Illegal immigrants are eligible, while U.S.-born Boston residents are not.

The Immigrants Lead Boston program, operated by Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office for Immigrant Advancement, is a 10-week course for what the city calls emerging immigrant leaders.

Candidates must be Boston residents, at least 18 years old and immigrants. Separately, the city states that interested applicants are encouraged to apply “regardless of their immigration status.”

So an illegal immigrant living in Boston can apply for the taxpayer-funded program and its $575 scholarship, while a U.S.-born resident cannot qualify under the city’s stated requirement that candidates be immigrants.

According to Boston’s own description, participants learn:

• Civic engagement and community organizing
• Public narrative and storytelling
• How to build leadership teams to produce community change
• How to navigate city government and engage city officials
• Immigration issues, racism and equity

Participants also conduct civic activities outside class and are expected to use the skills and relationships developed through the program to advocate for their communities. 

“The scholarship rewards participants for their time and commitment to learn, lead, and advocate for their communities,” the city says.

Way More Than $575 Each

The $575 is just what Wu is paying the aspiring organizers – while Boston’s FY2026 budget documents allocate $100,000 to Immigrants Lead Boston, with the city saying the money will fund training for up to 40 emerging leaders in immigrant communities.

If all 40 positions were filled and every participant received $575, the scholarships themselves would total $23,000. The budget presentation does not itemize where the remaining $77,000 goes. 

The program predates Wu. It began under former Mayor Marty Walsh in the fall of 2020, with an inaugural class of 18 participants. Wu’s administration has continued and expanded it. The city’s own alumni pages provide a fairly good picture of what some graduates have done with the training.

Members of the 2021-22 class advocated for driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants. Participant Griselda Polanco told the city: “I want to see an opportunity to give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.”

Another participant, Marie Jacques Toussaint, said she wanted “access to a Driver’s License for everyone, including the immigrant community.”

Participants also drafted testimony on public-policy issues including housing, mental-health services and immigration. Massachusetts ultimately enacted the Work and Family Mobility Act, allowing residents who cannot provide proof of lawful presence to obtain standard driver’s licenses if they meet the other requirements.

Wu’s administration later created an advanced alumni program called Immigrants Lead Boston Lab: From Ideas to Action.

That curriculum was developed with ‘re:power,’ which Boston itself describes as a national training organization of organizers, strategists and technologists dedicated to building social-justice movements. For nine weeks, graduates received additional instruction in public speaking, meeting facilitation, conflict management and community organizing.

Their goals are clear. From Immigrants Lead Boston Lab’s own website: 

“I want to participate more with City Life and the organizations that are fighting for rent control,” said Adelaida Carbajal Rosales. 

Viera Andrea Ilse said she was embarking on a mission to help immigrants obtain driver’s licenses “regardless of immigration status.”

Cindy Marchando said the program had taught her about “the inner workings of social justice movements” and coalition building, which she intended to apply to her advocacy work.

Another participant described the skills involved as “campaign and community organizing.”

The current program is being run in partnership with the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, or MIRA, which Boston describes as New England’s largest coalition promoting immigrant and refugee rights and integration.