Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said a detention facility for immigrant families at a Massachusetts recreation center quickly filled up just over a week after opening.
Wu said Wednesday on the local podcast Java with Jimmy that the 400-seat Melnea A. Cass Recreation Complex in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood quickly filled up with migrants seeking shelter. said.
The community center was converted into a migrant shelter on January 31, but is already near capacity as migrants are transferred from other temporary housing units across the state.
Massachusetts closes community center for shelter migrants, sparking backlash
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu (AP Photo/Mary Schwar/File)
“This whole situation is temporary,” Wu said. “I think the provincial government has heard loud and clear that a pool is necessary for the community and for all the multigenerational activities that take place in the neighborhood.”
The Melnea A. Cass Recreation Complex has been closed to Roxbury residents since it was converted into a shelter for illegal immigrants. (Melnea Cass Recreation Center/Facebook)
The Democratic mayor said 75 immigrant children are enrolled in Boston public schools, and the students are placed in special “cohorts.”
Community leaders say Boston is ‘passing the buck’ on minority neighborhoods as immigrants move into detention centers
The cohort aims to provide immigrant children with “additional dedicated resources regarding multilingual learning,” Wu said.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (Erin Clark/Boston Globe via Getty Images/File)
Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey pledged to shut down the site by May 31 after the state faced severe criticism from the Roxbury community.
City Councilor Tania Fernandez Anderson, who represents the area where the Melnea Cass Center is located, said many residents felt displaced by the governor’s decision.
“Voters have been very clear in saying, ‘You’re kicking us out,'” Anderson said.
Migrants are sleeping on the floor at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, as the state’s shelters remain at capacity. (WBZ)
Despite the community’s response, Healy said the decision to move migrants to the recreation center was made “out of necessity,” as other facilities in the state that have served as residential shelters, such as Logan International Airport, are full. “I was just born,” he said.
Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state and is required by law to provide shelter to homeless families.
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“We just have to do what we have to do at this point,” she said.
Fox News Digital contacted the governor’s office but did not receive an immediate response.
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
