Patrick To Address Annual Mass. Immigrant Luncheon

Gov. Deval Patrick is scheduled to address immigrant and refugee advocates a year after an advisory panel released a report with recommendations for Massachusetts immigration reforms.

Patrick is slated Tuesday to speak in Boston at the annual Thanksgiving Luncheon held by the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

Advocates have been pressing Patrick to push legislation from the report's 130 or so recommendations that included tougher civil rights protection for immigrants and in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students.

Organizers say this year's annual luncheon will focus on the state's many refugees.

More than 8,000 refugees from around the world have settled in Massachusetts during the last five years.