Migrants sleeping on floors at Boston’s Logan International Airport will soon be barred from doing so, and Massachusetts officials are telling migrants currently at the southern border that they are running out of space in the shelter system.
More than 100 migrants have been using makeshift beds and air mattresses on the floor of Boston’s main airport as a shelter, but starting July 9, they will be banned and instead offered free, taxpayer-funded lodging at a former minimum-security dormitory-like facility in Norfolk, Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday.
Massachusetts has renovated the Massachusetts Bay State Correctional Center, a former minimum-security dormitory-like facility that opened last week and can house 140 immigrant and homeless families, or about 450 people. The facility is located on the grounds of the Massachusetts Correctional Institution (MCI), a medium-security prison.
Democratic town outraged at migrant shelter opening in neighborhood
Migrants spend the night on floors at Logan Airport. (Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
The Healey government said migrants would also be offered transfer to other new “safety net” facilities.
“The state has worked diligently over the past few months to move more families out of shelters and into more stable housing,” Scott Rice, the state’s emergency services director, said in a statement.
“This development allows us to end the practice of families spending the night at the airport. This is in the best interest of families, travelers and staff at Logan Airport as the airport is not an appropriate place for people to evacuate.”
Norfolk, home to about 11,500 people, some of whose residents were outraged last month when they heard the facility would be converted into a shelter for migrants. The town voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
The move comes after the administration announced it was sending a state delegation to the border to inform border officials, NGOs and migrants about a shortage of space in Massachusetts shelters.
Migrants continue to stream into Boston airport, more than 100 sleeping on floors
The migrants will be provided with free taxpayer-funded accommodation in a former minimum-security dormitory-like facility in Norfolk. (Google Maps)
The Healey administration says it is distributing fliers in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole to inform new immigrants that Massachusetts needs to develop a housing plan that doesn’t include Logan Airport or the state’s shelter system.
The Gulf Coast state has struggled to contain the crisis since Governor Healey declared a state of emergency last summer due to a surge in migrants into the state. The state has previously said it was obligated to accept migrants under a 1983 sanctuary city law, enacted to address a relatively small number of homeless families and pregnant women, but critics point out that the law doesn’t apply to immigrants who are not U.S. citizens.
The administration announced Friday that it was stepping up efforts to provide immigrants with housing assistance, work permit applications, job placements and English language courses.
As a result, more than 300 families have left the facility since May, officials said.
These numbers are expected to rise as the administration introduces a nine-month limit on stays in emergency shelters, a measure passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Healey, who also introduced a 30-day stay requirement to show immigrants are taking action toward obtaining work permits, jobs, and housing.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey delivers her inaugural address in the House of Representatives chambers of the State Capitol in Boston on January 5, 2023. She announces that immigrants will no longer be allowed to stay at Logan Airport. (AP Photo/Stephen Sene)
Rice told Fox News Digital last month that residents at the Norfolk facility have access to showers and bathrooms on each floor. The facility also has a cafeteria, a gym, a large common room and offices used for case management and administrative tasks.
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Rice added that the facility will have classroom space for adults to learn English and receive job training, as well as a play area for children.
The facility will be staffed by contracted service providers around the clock and families will be provided with transportation to and from the facility. The barbed wire fence surrounding the facility has been removed and the gates will remain open so families can come and go as needed, the governor’s office said.
It’s unclear how much the whole undertaking will cost taxpayers.
