The governor of Massachusetts requested on Wednesday that nearly all family members living in any of the state’s emergency shelters be in the United States legally, with few exceptions.
Democratic Gov. Maura Healey proposed a slate of new restrictions for the state’s decades-old right-to-shelter law, such as tougher criminal background checks, establishing residency requirements and prohibiting nearly any applicant who isn’t a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the country. The proposals come after several criminal busts in the shelters attracted national headlines, such as a rape of disabled girl by a shelter resident and the discovery of nearly $1 million in drugs and an AR-15 by another.
Currently, any applicant can be housed in the state’s shelter system before providing documentation. In a public statement about the proposals, Healey appeared to blame Congress and the federal government for the beleaguered shelter program.
“I have evaluated the Right to Shelter Law and regulations as well as the operational burdens on the system,” the governor said. “Based on that review, and in the face of continued inaction by Congress and no assistance from the federal government, 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.”
“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,” she continued.
Republicans in the state accused the governor of acting far too slowly to address the shelter crisis.
“It’s a shame that the Healey-Driscoll Administration took this long to come to terms with the gravity of the situation,” Amy Carnevale, chair of the MassGOP, said in a public statement. “And it’s an even bigger shame that it was only after the information they’ve known for the past two years became public that they finally decided to take action.”
Major crimes within several shelter facilities have rocked the program and caused headaches for the Democratic governor, who has increasingly taken a tougher stance on illegal immigration in her state.
A Haitian man who arrived into the country through the Biden administration’s CHNV program was arrested in March for allegedly raping a disabled minor at a motel that was being used for migrant housing. A Dominican man living illegally in the country was arrested in December after being caught with an AR-15 rifle and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of illicit drugs in his shelter residence.
That December drug bust prompted Healey to order a sweeping inspection of every shelter facility in the state, calling it “outrageous” that the individual was able to take advantage of the shelter program for his alleged criminal activity.
Internal documentation obtained by the Boston Herald revealed that Massachusetts’ state-funded migrant-family shelter facilities has been rife with incidents of child rape, drugs, physical assaults and other illicit crimes since at least 2022. In one of the alarming cases unearthed in the reports, a father staying at one of the facilities allegedly had sex with his daughter repeatedly and ultimately impregnated her.
Asylum seekers have flocked to Massachusetts en masse since the beginning of the border crisis, forcing the state to utilize 128 different hotels and motels to house migrants and other homeless families since the immigration crisis began. The situation has come at great expense to local taxpayers, with a state commission report recently determining that Massachusetts would spend up to one billion dollars on its emergency shelter system in the 2025 fiscal year.
In June, Healey deployed several state officials to border communities with the mission of warning migrants not to come to Massachusetts because the shelters were already at capacity.
While she has rejected the label, other organizations have identified the entire state of Massachusetts as a sanctuary haven for illegal migrants. In addition, Boston and several other localities have also been labeled as sanctuary cities for limiting cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
The proposals made on Wednesday would require shelter applicants to verify their identity and residency before being housed, and applicants must prove they are in the country lawfully unless they have a child who is a citizen or lawful resident, according to her public announcement. The requests, however, would have to be passed by the state Legislature before going into effect.
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