Massachusetts asks homeowners to take in illegal migrants

Government officials in Massachusetts have realized that they suddenly have a lot of people arriving who don’t have a place to stay. And while neither they nor the mainstream press seem eager to discuss the specifics, these aren’t just homeless Bostonians who have fallen on hard times. They are migrants, most of them illegal, who have been showing up by the busload just as we’ve seen in almost every state by this point. (“Every state is a border state during the Biden border crisis.”) Governor Maura Healey is well aware that there aren’t enough rooms in shelters to accommodate them all and having migrant tent cities springing up all over the place lowers property values. So they’re cooking up a new plan and it involves asking local (legal) homeowners and landlords to voluntarily take in the migrants “temporarily” and offer them shelter. As we’ve seen in New York and other states, the response thus far hasn’t been overwhelmingly positive. (WBUR News)

Massachusetts officials are seeking residents willing to host newly arrived families in need of shelter. Hosts are asked to provide a room or apartment for a few days, until longer-term accommodations can be arranged.

A significant portion of the families in need of housing in the state are new immigrants. Many of those arriving in Boston have fled violence in Haiti and traveled through other states before coming to Massachusetts.

The new host family strategy comes as the state scrambles to expand shelter capacity and provide for an increasing number of homeless families. The state’s new Family Welcome Center in Allston is tasked with recruiting, vetting and onboarding host families, as well as pairing them with the families in need.

The state has already set up a facility called The Family Welcome Center in Allston, Massachusetts. But that was only ever supposed to be a temporary stopgap measure to pair up migrants with available housing. They talk about “filling the needs of newly arriving immigrant families.” But they’ve been overwhelmed, and additional resources are required.

There are a couple of details of that excerpt above that could do with some additional explanations from the state government. First of all, even if someone was interested in volunteering a room or an apartment, how do you plan to ensure that it actually is “short-term?” They’re using the phrase “for a few days until longer-term accommodations can be arranged.” But if there were long-term accommodations available, the migrants would already be on their way there. What happens when “a few days” have gone by and they don’t hear anything? Do they have a new, permanent tenant with no ability to pay rent?

The Welcome Center is supposedly responsible for vetting the host families. They did not respond to media requests regarding how that vetting would work. But who is vetting the migrant families to find out if they have criminal records, if they’ve had medical screening done, or if they are even “families” at all? Typically, for the people coming in over the southern border illegally, the answer is “nobody.” For all you know, the two adults now staying in your garage attic with a young girl are actually engaged in child sex trafficking.

Don’t get me wrong. America is full of many charitable, wonderful people who are willing to help those who are less fortunate than themselves. I’m confident there are plenty of people like that in Massachusetts. But we’re not experiencing a typical situation these days. We have plenty of citizens and legal residents without a roof over their heads at the moment. If there is a helping hand out there ready to put them up, shouldn’t those people be at the head of the line before some unknown strangers who chose to enter our country illegally? I understand that’s not the policy of the Biden administration at the federal level. Illegal immigrants are a top priority for them in the largest numbers possible. But at the state and local level I would expect to see a bit more of a priority placed on Americans in distress before illegal aliens. Just sayin‘…