As a response to the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, who demanded that the Biden administration visit the state to witness firsthand the devastation caused by the border crisis, the White House has decided to send officials from the Department of Homeland Security to Massachusetts.
According to a statement that the White House gave to CBS News, a delegation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will travel to New England in order to “evaluate the current migrant situation and identify ways to improve efficiencies and maximum our support for communities that are addressing the needs of migrants.”
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Officials from the White House have been in “close” contact with the administration of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. These officials “will remain in coordination with the city and commonwealth to determine best practises and ways in which the federal government can support Boston and Massachusetts over the coming weeks and months, or until Congress takes action to fix our nation’s broken immigration system,” an official from the White House said.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the latest development, and the Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm specifics of the visit.
“DHS is coordinating with the City of Boston and the State of Massachusetts to identify ways we can continue to maximise our support for communities that are addressing the needs of migrants while enforcing tough consequences against those without a legal basis to remain in the country,” a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in an email sent out on Monday.
In the middle of September, Healey and Representative Jake Auchincloss (Democrat of Massachusetts) asked Vice President Joe Biden for assistance for the state. In August, “Sanctuary” state Massachusetts became the latest to proclaim a state of emergency due to its inability to handle thousands of illegal immigrants who have arrived in the state after being released from federal detention at the United States-Mexico border. This announcement came after Massachusetts became the latest state to declare a state of emergency.
Auchincloss made these comments a month ago: “We need the Biden administration to compensate for the tremendous cost of sheltering the migrants,” he stated.
The fact that two hotels in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, have been converted into housing for immigrants is detrimental to the local economy, particularly during the time of year when people flock to the area to witness the leaves on the trees changing colour. The impact on the town of Sturbridge’s lost revenue and taxes is currently incalculable, according to the administrator of the town, Robin Grimm.
“We are not a town equipped to handle this,” Grimm stated. “Although the community does make an effort to assist, the town as a whole does not have anything in its budget that can actually help.” This is something that the Commonwealth absolutely needs to take care of.”
The assistance that the federal government has offered to the city of Boston in the amount of $2.8 million since October 2022 was highlighted by the administration of Vice President Biden.
Healey made her statement public in August, saying that the issue was not one that should be handled by municipal or state governments but rather by the federal government.
Healey stated that the state was unable to respond financially or logistically to the 20,000 people who were living in emergency shelters, motels, dorms, and other facilities across the state that were sponsored by the state. This number represents an increase of 80% over the previous year. According to the “right to shelter” statute that was passed in 1983 in the state, any family, regardless of the immigration status of its members, is promised immediate lodging that is provided by the state.
“We’re unable to move people from housing and shelter into permanent housing because of this, so instead, we’ve been expanding and continuing to look for housing and shelter opportunities, expanding shelter at a rapid pace, and it’s unsustainable,” according to Healey.
The seven million people who live in Massachusetts join the citizens of other cities and towns, such as New York City, Chicago, and Washington, who have struggled to respond to the amount of immigrants who have been released into their communities from the border under the administration of Vice President Joe Biden. All of these locations are considered sanctuary zones because they have chosen not to comply with the immigration laws of the federal government.
The highest court in the state declared in 2017 that court personnel do not have the right to arrest or jail an illegal immigrant just because he or she was mentioned in a federal immigration request. This effectively turned the state into a “sanctuary” zone for illegal immigrants.
Since then, the state of Massachusetts has implemented programmes that aim to assist immigrants in leading normal lives while they are still in the nation while they await the outcome of their applications for asylum or deportation. Only in the past month has the state begun granting noncitizens who live in the state the ability to obtain a driver’s licence for noncommercial use.
