A homeless illegal immigrant family with children was housed in a Massachusetts shelter that also housed or employed registered sex offenders, according to recent reports. boston globe investigation.
The state-run emergency shelter system used at least five hotels and dormitories to house and employ registered sex offenders, the media reported. It was claimed that families, often illegal immigrants with young children, were being housed under the same roof.
“That shouldn’t happen.”
The offenders were reportedly convicted of crimes against children, including rape, indecent assault and battery on children, and child pornography.
The findings suggest that the state agency that administers the emergency shelter program, the Office of Housing and Livable Communities, failed to properly vet employees and residents. The agency told the Globe that it is working to remove sex offenders, noting that they are not illegal immigrants.
“The safety and well-being of the 7,500 families in emergency shelters is a top priority for our administration,” Kevin Connor, a spokesperson for the Office of Housing and Livable Communities, told news outlets.
“We continue to take every step to ensure the safety of EA residents, carefully considering every situation that comes before us and acting quickly to protect our families,” it added.
About half of the families using the state’s emergency shelter system are undocumented immigrants.
In March, a 26-year-old man allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl at a Comfort Inn in Rockland. The man and the girl, both Haitian nationals, were living in a hotel that was used as a shelter for illegal immigrants. Prior to that incident, a registered sex offender had lived and worked at the hotel for more than two years, according to the Globe.
Terrence Flaherty, a Massachusetts resident who lives in a Comfort Inn with his teenage daughters, told news outlets the state needs to inform families about registered sex offenders.
“Sex offender posters are put up in police stations. They should be here,” he said. “There are a lot of kids here.”
“This should never happen,” Carline Desir, executive director of the Haitian Women’s Association, told the Globe.
“We need to get rid of sex offenders,” Desir said.
The state housing agency told news outlets that it checks shelter addresses against the Sex Offender Registration Board twice a year.
A 2019 state audit found the agency did not conduct regular testing or warn families of sex offenders.
The Globe reported that state officials have refused to provide a comprehensive list of shelter locations, making it impossible to thoroughly screen all shelters for sex offenders.
Leah Bradley, CEO of the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance, defended the state.
“The state prevented the deaths of children,” Bradley told the Globe. “The state’s choice was to immediately provide housing for the family so that the children would not be sleeping on the streets and the babies who could not regulate their body temperature would not die. This was a worthy choice.”
The state’s emergency shelter system reached capacity of 7,500 households in November. Governor Maura Healey declared: emergency In August, protests took place over the influx of illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, the only state with a right-of-refuge law.
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