As safety concerns grow and just days remain until President-elect Trump takes office, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is toughening up on her approach to the state’s migrant problem.
A Democrat named Healey wants to make big changes to how the state houses migrants. For example, he wants to make sure that all families living in emergency shelters are legally in the country, with very few exceptions. This change would make it impossible for new immigrants to stay in state homes.
All people who want to stay in a shelter would have to prove that they are either a U.S. citizen, a legal permanent resident or are here “under the color of law.” This is because the state’s right-to-shelter rule was looked at. Homes with children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents are exempt from this rule.
The governor also wants to make background checks for people living at shelters stronger by making them reveal any criminal convictions in the state and elsewhere.
Before being housed, her plan would require applicants to prove who they are, where they live, and their legal status. At the moment, people who want to live in a shelter can be kept without having to show any paperwork.
Also, people who qualify because they were evicted would only be able to live in the state and not anywhere else in the country. For example, this would stop it from happening when a migrant is kicked out of their home in another state and then comes to Massachusetts and gets help with housing.
“I believe these changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system in a way that aligns with the original intent of the law,” Healey said in a tweet. “In addition, these proposed changes will allow us to continue to ensure the safety of our system, support cities and towns in addressing the needs of unhoused families in their communities, and put us on the path toward a more fiscally sustainable shelter system.”
The changes were made because of worries about safety at the state’s shelters and because illegal immigrants in the state are linked to several crimes. The state’s records show that there have been hundreds of serious events at the shelters, such as rapes.
Illegal immigrant was caught last month with an AR-15 and about $1 million worth of fentanyl in a hotel room paid for by the government. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently seen a rise in the number of illegal immigrants arrested for sex crimes in the Boston area and across Massachusetts. One of these immigrants was from El Salvador and was accused of sexually attacking a child.
In November, Healey said that her state police would “absolutely not” help with the planned mass removal effort by the Trump administration. She also said that she would use “every tool in the toolbox” to “protect” people living in the blue state.
After looking at the state’s right-to-shelter rule again, Healey came up with her new ideas. They include “continued inaction by Congress and no help from the federal government.”
The ideas need to be approved by the legislature. In a letter to the Senate President, Speaker, and House and Senate Ways and Means Chairs, Healey laid out her suggestions and asked that the changes be made to the Emergency Assistance (EA) Supplemental Budget.
She just recently said that by the end of 2025, hotels and motels will no longer be used as homes by the government.
Massachusetts passed its Right to Shelter law 40 years ago. Its goal was to help families in need, especially pregnant women and children who were living on the streets, find housing.
In the past few years, migrants have used this rule to look for shelter, which has swollen its shelter system to capacity. Because of the surge last year, Healey announced a state of emergency in the state and asked the federal government to step in. She also said that the policies of the state might be appealing to people who want to move there.
Because shelters were getting too full, migrants were sleeping on the floors of Boston’s Logan International Airport.
A study from July by the Center for Immigration Studies says that since 2021, about 50,000 immigrants have come to the state.
Ronald Mariano, the Democratic Speaker of the House, said that the new plan is in line with what politicians have been trying to do.
“From the outset of the shelter system crisis, the House has consistently led the effort to ensure that the Commonwealth’s emergency assistance program could remain financially viable in the long-term, resulting in reforms that capped the maximum length of stay, and that required job training for individuals in the shelter system,” he said in a statement, per The AP.
Bruce Tarr, who is the Senate Minority Leader, also liked the idea.
“With the growing consensus not only on Beacon Hill, but throughout the Commonwealth, that major changes are needed urgently, we have the opportunity to at last take actions that will make the system safer, more accountable and transparent, and more sustainable,” Bruce Tarr said in a statement.
In August, the Republican Party in Massachusetts said that Healey had spent more than $1 billion on the state’s migrant problem without telling anyone.
In a statement at the time, Amy Carnevale, Chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said, “The Healey-Driscoll Administration has kept almost $1 billion spent secret, leaving Massachusetts residents in the dark.”
“They have kept important information about 600 incidents involving police, fire, and EMTs from the public.” The government has made it hard for people to get information by blocking reporters at every turn.
Leave a Comment