Massachusetts Spends Millions on the Migrant Crisis, But Boston Shelters Are Still Overrun
Jonathan Choe, reporting on behalf of TPUSA’s Frontlines, went to Boston’s inner city to ask residents about the influx of illegal immigrants in their neighborhoods, and to better understand the impact this crisis has on impoverished areas.
Shelters constructed for migrants who arrived in Boston after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have been overrun in Boston, and around the state of Massachusetts largely. According to CBS, the state currently has 17 housing contracts for migrants totaling more than $116 million, and those contracts are “only for fiscal year 2024 and end in June.” In 2023, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey appropriated $325 million to shelter migrants in fiscal 2024, which some reports say doesn’t come close to meeting the needs of the migrants in the state.
“In some cases, the hotels are collecting money from the state for three meals a day, $16 for breakfast, $17 for lunch and $31 for dinner. That means $64 dollars a day per person,” CBS reported.
Despite the state’s increased spending on this crisis, migrants are still overwhelming shelters around Boston, leading some to spend night after night in Boston Logan International Airport, and others to find refuge in “overflow” taxpayer-funded facilities now closed off indefinitely to residents and the public.
Melnea Cass Recreation Complex is one such overflow shelter, now packed with families from Haiti, instead of residents from Boston’s inner city, according to Choe. The facility will be closed to the public for several more months, and there is a strict media band inside the complex, according to Choe.
One African American who lives in the community who called himself the “resistance” to Choe said that he would continue to demonstrate outside of the recreation center until it is reclaimed for the residents. He told Choe that the migrants were brought to the community without residents’ consent. Another resident, Nez Porter, told Choe that the immigrants are “overwhelming our police department, our fire department, our EMS, our doctors,” and questioned why more affluent communities with the means to care for more people have not been as severely impacted by the crisis.
Other community members believe that the funds being allocated by the city of Boston to feed and shelter illegal immigrants would have been better spent on the homeless population, which has grown to more than 5,000 people in 2023, a 17.2% increase from the previous year.
Choe approached the Governor to ask about her administration’s handling of the crisis; however, she did not respond to his request for comment.
