A former Massachusetts immigrant shelter director describes the chaos he has seen under the state's right to asylum law, saying the influx of illegal immigrants has clogged the state's infrastructure and there is virtually no scrutiny of the surge in border crossers. did.
Massachusetts spent about $1.1 billion in taxpayer money this fiscal year on hotels, often converted into shelters, to house and feed the influx of migrants into the state. But John Featherston, who was director of the migrant shelter at Marlborough Holiday Inn from November 2023 to July last year, said taxpayers are paying too much attention to shelters because migrants are crowded into the system and prioritized. It is said that he was sometimes kicked out.
Under the Right to Refuge Act of 1983, states must provide housing to displaced families and pregnant women. In 2023, the state's shelters reached capacity of 7,500 registered families, yet immigrants continue to utilize Massachusetts' programs.
Mr Featherstone previously detailed repeated incidents of violence and child abuse he witnessed during his term, and accused perpetrators of going unpunished.
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Massachusetts shelters are overflowing and illegal immigrants line the floor of Boston Logan Airport's terminal. (WBZ)
Featherston said in an interview that the vetting process or I explained the lack of it. Fox News Digital.
Leonardo Andujar Sánchez, 28, was arrested on December 27 after his girlfriend reported to Libyan police that he had drugs and a long black gun hidden under a pink suitcase in his hotel room. The woman told police she had lived at the Quality Inn for three months and that she and Sanchez had obtained the room through a refugee program.
“I worked at that shelter for a very limited period of time,” Featherston told FOX News Digital. “You can't hide an AR-15 in that room. You can't hide drugs in that room. The room isn't big…the case manager there should have been standing there…a red flag should have been raised. …'Hey, listen, this guy isn't attending those meetings. This guy is neglecting his housework.'
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Meshach Little of the Norhill-Wilkeston security company walks around the main living area of the state's emergency overflow shelter for immigrants at the Melnea A. Cass Recreation Complex. (Craig F. Walker/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Featherston said the incident is just one example of the lack of security and vetting in the state's strained immigration facilities.
The Office of Housing and Livability, which oversees the state's shelter program, told Fox News Digital that all facilities have security guards and conduct warrant checks every 30 days. However, Featherston saw no such activity during his tenure.
“I’m telling you, every shelter I’ve worked at or volunteered at; [at] There are forms of security. But…it's really basically just someone sitting at a desk – the same as being in a corporate office park…that's certainly not the level of security you need in these shelters…someone coming in and issuing a warrant I've never seen them checked. ”
He said staff at the shelter were selected primarily for the languages they spoke, rather than their experience.
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Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (right) visit the Melnea A. Cass Recreation Complex, which was used as a detention facility for more than 300 immigrants. (John Turmacchi/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“We hire people just because they speak the language we need, whether it's Haitian or Portuguese or Spanish. So they're not necessarily qualified caseworkers or mental health advocates or people who have experience dealing with these issues. We’re not hiring people,’ because those people don’t exist,” he said.
“In many cases…case managers became sympathetic to their brethren when they taught them how to navigate the system, not always in the most ethical way. And that's where the confusion arose.” .”
However, he said there was a “huge amount of domestic violence…a huge amount of violence against children.” [and] Massive violence against other peoples. ”
Mr Featherston said relatives and relatives who were said to be friends of the residents were constantly cycling through the facility where he worked. Despite the policy of residents entering and exiting through security guards, the facility was so understaffed that it was nearly impossible to keep track of who was actually coming and going.
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The photo shows items allegedly found in the possession of Leonardo Andujar Sánchez, who was arrested at an immigrant shelter in Revere, Massachusetts, on December 27. (ERO Boston)
”[The Revere arrest] touch[es] hot point [for me] “Probably from the third day I was in the shelter,” Featherston said. “'Who are those?…I didn't check them in. I didn't see them when they came in. Who were they?…How did this happen?' Man “Well, that's so-and-so's uncle.''
He said families often “disappeared” and sometimes housekeeping would report a family member had not been in the room for three or four days. I'd get calls about residents showing up at the facility, but sometimes they never showed up, or people showed up with IDs that didn't match at all.
Since a Supreme Court ruling last November, after Mr. Featherston left the shelter, shelters are prohibited from requiring families to submit identification or documentation when applying for short-term shelter programs. are.
This distinction has prompted Democratic Gov. Maura Healey to recently call for more scrutiny of emergency shelter residents to ensure they are legally in the U.S., with rare exceptions, but it is impossible to do so. He said that it has become.
“We believe these changes are appropriate and necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state's shelter system, consistent with the original intent of the law,” Healey said in a statement. said. “Furthermore, these proposed changes will allow us to continue to ensure the safety of our systems, support cities and towns that serve the needs of unhoused families in their communities, and provide more financially sustainable evacuations.” You can walk the path towards a local system.”
“She can say she's going to increase scrutiny, but how will she vet people who don't have ID? She also wants immigrants to self-identify if they've committed a crime in the past, but… That’s not going to happen,” Featherston said.
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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey held a press conference to announce important measures related to the state's emergency shelter system. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“She's saying now, [this] They get left out of the news and they blame someone else when reforms don't happen,” Featherston said.
Healey's office could not be reached for comment at press time.
Featherston said he has had to turn away American citizens who have fallen on hard times amid the chaos in the state's immigrant shelters.
“I would have the veterans walk to the shelter; [saying] “I'm a Vietnam veteran and I just need a room for the night.” And I said, “I'm sorry.” This is for immigrants. All members of the public are prohibited from entering. This is only for immigrants,” he recalled.
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“We weren't always able to find a place for homeless veterans on cold nights. But we have immigrants,” he continued. “Again, I don’t blame them for living in a shelter, where they have free three meals a day, free dry cleaning, free Uber service, a roof over their head, and free medical care. Everything is free. And I've had to do it at least six times.”
He also said that while there are technical limits on how long people can stay in state shelters, they are not necessarily enforced and there are no spaces reserved for citizens in need.
“You can't blame the people who stepped up and tried to do the job. You have to blame the system and the people who run the system for failing to have checks and balances,” Featherston said. “The governor had no plan, he just wanted to open the shelters…No one is an expert on this. Massachusetts is the only state in the nation with a right to shelters. So it's fair to say they didn't have the right to open a shelter. Well, no one is qualified for this because no one has ever experienced this.”
