Federal immigration authorities in Massachusetts, a state that has spent millions to house migrants, are on track to process a record number of deportation cases, Boston 25 reported.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has filed over 44,000 new deportation cases in Massachusetts courts during the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, according to Boston 25. Should this pace continue, the total number of filings in the state could reach nearly 59,000 by the end of the fiscal year — surpassing the 54,000 deportation cases seen the previous fiscal year, which was the biggest number of new filings in the state in roughly a quarter century.
The rising pace of cases continues despite Massachusetts, a “sanctuary state” for illegal migrants, taking steps to force asylum seekers out of shelters and incentivize them to leave the state completely.
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey last month declared that the state would limit stays at overflow shelters for migrants to just five days. Additionally, the governor’s office said plane tickets and other travel expenses would be covered for migrants wishing to relocate out of the state.
“I want to be clear, particularly to people outside of Massachusetts who may have gotten word that this is a place to come, that we do not have room here in Massachusetts,” Healey said during a July press conference, according to Boston 25 News.
The governor’s office emphasized in a press release at the time that the financial toll of the migrant shelter system was unsustainable, and reforms were going to be made.
“Massachusetts is out of shelter space, and we simply cannot afford the current size of this system,” the governor said in the press release. “That’s why we are making changes to [Emergency Assistance] prioritization and transitioning our safety-net sites to five-day temporary respite centers.”
The five-day stay limit marked a major scale back from earlier limitations. The four state-run overflow shelters currently operating in Massachusetts — located in Chelsea, Norfolk, Lexington and Cambridge — previously allowed migrant families to remain for 30 days, and offered options to re-apply, according to Boston 25.
The state’s roll back on migrant shelter stays followed major taxpayer expenditures to house and feed migrants. Earlier this year, Massachusetts was spending roughly $75 million a month to house families in their shelters, according to GBH, a local outlet.
The governor deployed several top state officials to border communities in June to caution illegal immigrants not to make Massachusetts their destination of choice because the state’s emergency system was overwhelmed.
The Center for Immigration Studies identifies Massachusetts as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, citing a 2017 court decision that limits law enforcement’s ability to hold criminal illegal migrants solely based on a detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Massachusetts’ record number of deportation cases reflects a nationwide trend, according to the Boston Globe. Immigration courts across the country experienced an increase of over 300% of deportation cases from fiscal year 2018 to fiscal year 2023.
“The nationwide increase in new deportation cases during the Biden administration is driven primarily by an increase in asylum seekers entering the United States, both at the US-Mexico border as well as at airports,” Austin Kocher, a professor at Syracuse University, said to the Boston Globe. “Many of these migrants enter lawfully through parole programs set up to facilitate the humanitarian process. Political instability is a driving factor for migrants.”
Healey’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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