Report on refugees flawed, activist says

Torli Krua, chief executive of the Boston-based Universal Human Rights International, said the governor’s New Americans Agenda includes input from government appointees, consultants, and paid members of government agencies. But it omits the voices of many refugees and leaders of faith-based and volunteer groups from the deliberation and creative process, he said.

“The New Americans Agenda in its current form is lacking in its legitimacy,’’ Krua said during a church service yesterday in Boston’s South End, “because the participants, products, timing are not representative of the majority of Massachusetts refugees and immigrants.’’

State officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. A member of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Refugees and Immigrants, which helped produce the report, said no one was excluded.

Krua said he voiced his concerns in a letter to Governor Deval Patrick and other state officials. In it, he called for a recall of the New Americans Agenda, which he described as severely flawed. He also urged an overhaul of the state Office for Refugees and Immigrants, the state agency charged with compiling the report, saying the group was out of touch with immigrants.

Patrick created the New Americans Agenda initiative last year to develop policy recommendations on immigration.

A coalition of immigrant groups and the state agency spent the past year holding public hearings and policy meetings across the state. It also conducted research and gathered input from state agencies.

The Office for Refugees and Immigrants presented draft recommendations to the governor for his review July 1.

Tomorrow the committee is expected to unveil 131 recommendations, covering issues raised during the public meetings such as the need for English classes, in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, and assistance for immigrants with college degrees who want to transfer their credentials.

Westy Egmont, cochair of the Governor’s Advisory Council, said the six public hearings and 15 policy meetings for immigration professionals were well attended and represented by “folks some might call disempowered.’’

Many people also responded to the panel’s website, which urged input and participation from immigrants. The Globe reported on at least one meeting.

“There is no basis in any imaginable way [for accusations] of exclusion,’’ said Egmont, who also received a letter from Krua. “The process has included immigrants as cochairs, writers, and folks listening. It’s really been a heavily immigrant participant-led facilitated process.’’

But Krua, addressing a group of about 80 people at the South End Neighborhood Church yesterday, said the process excluded many from the refugee community, who either were not told about the public meetings or when told could not attend because the meetings were held in the early evenings when many immigrants work.

Alex Mbianda, who is active in the Cameroon immigrant community, said he was never contacted about the meetings. He criticized the state’s refugee agency for what he said is a disconnect with the people it serves.

“There is a miscommunication,’’ he said yesterday of the agency. “They think they know what we need. We know what we need, but we don’t know what they are thinking.’’