Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) declared a state of emergency after a migrant surge overwhelmed social services.
She requested more funding to combat the issue and assistance from the federal government.
The emergency was caused by “rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people — many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees — living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities,” Healey said.
In July, 100 families a day sought emergency shelter while fewer families are leaving shelters.
“Many of these families are migrants to Massachusetts, drawn here because we are and proudly have been a beacon to those in need,” Healey stated in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
She also placed blame on “a confusing tangle of immigration laws, an inability for migrants to obtain work authorization from the federal government, an increase in the number of people coming to Massachusetts, and the lack of an affordable housing supply in our state.”
Reporting from Fox News:
Mayorkas has echoed many of these calls himself, with the administration as a whole repeatedly calling on Congress to provide additional funding as requested at the border. The administration has urged passage of an immigration reform bill that was introduced on President Biden’s first day in office. But such calls for funding and immigration reform have met with opposition from Republicans and others. Republicans have balked at the inclusion of a mass amnesty for millions of illegal migrants included in the 2021 proposal. Instead, they want to see asylum loopholes closed and more border security, with House Republicans introducing and passing sweeping legislation earlier this year.
