State's Immigration Office Director Steps Down

The head of the state's Office for Refugees and Immigrants has resigned to take a position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Richard Chacon, who led the agency for about four years, said Monday he will become MIT's senior associate director for campaign planning and will be responsible for planning the school's next major fundraising campaign.

Chacon said it was an honor to help the state's many immigrant communities.

Under Chacon, the state agency doubled the number of refugees allowed to settle into Massachusetts to 2,500 a year.

Eva Millona, executive director at the Massachusetts Immigrants & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, an immigrant advocacy coalition, said Chacon was very responsive to immigrants' concerns and helped bring focus on immigration issues statewide when they had previously been ignored.