Growing concern for migrants at Logan Airport
Logan Airport, Terminal A.
Up to 20 people, including children, just in from San Antonio Texas with nowhere to go, were sheltering beneath blankets on benches.
These migrants are arriving in Boston at the same time the state’s shelter cap hits its maximum, and the Legislature reaches a stalemate over how best to spend $250 million for emergency shelters.
The migrants are now on a waitlist.
Governor Healey said Massachusetts, with its right-to-shelter law providing housing for the homeless, is out of room.
“Massachusetts right now, in terms of a destination, winter’s coming, it’s going to get cold, we simply can’t promise you a bed,” Governor Healey said Friday.
At Logan, the State Police and airport workers are moving migrants out of terminals.
“We have to emphasize that Logan Airport is not an appropriate place to house people,” said Massport’s Interim CEO Edward Freni. “Some of the folks come in late in the evening, we try to assist them if we see them, but usually early in the morning we accommodate them and move them to the assistance of the centers.”
The strain of waitlists is felt far beyond Logan Airport.
In Mattapan, at the Immigration Family Services Institute, migrants crowd into the office looking for help
But with a long waiting list for shelter and no easy answers, there is plenty of frustration.
“We’re talking about Thanksgiving time when everyone is going to be enjoying a meal with families. So, what’s going to move those who are placed in the street, after all the trauma, all the hardship that they endure, for them to be here? And everyone is enjoying a meal, for them to be in the street in the cold to me this is not acceptable,” said Dr. Geralde Gabeau, Executive Director of IFSI.
In a statement, the White House Senior Advisor Tom Perez said the following:
“Thanks to the collaboration of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the work authorization clinic which began this week has already served more than 1,000 migrants. We will continue these efforts in the coming weeks to support more eligible migrants submitting their work permit applications. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to supporting local jurisdictions hosting recently arrived migrants and we will continue working with our partners in Massachusetts in the coming weeks and months. Last month, President Biden submitted supplemental funding requests to Congress which address a series of national priorities, including grant funding for jurisdictions hosting migrants and funding for accelerating the processing of work permits for eligible migrants.”
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
