'Inept approach': Senator rips Healey administration for sending migrants to Sutton hotel

SUTTON - In its quest to fulfill a humanitarian mission to find accommodations for the thousands of migrants flocking to Massachusetts in the last few weeks, Sen. Ryan Fattman, R-Sutton, claims the state is falling down on the job.

Fattman said more than 50 people were dropped off at the Red Roof Inn on Route 146 about two weeks ago with virtually no notice to the community. The families, mostly migrants from Haiti, were placed in taxis at Logan Airport and driven out to Sutton, more than an hour away. They were left at the hotel with no food, no formula and no diapers.

While the community stepped up, Fattman said, he blames the state for not properly notifying locals about the coming influx and for not vetting the accommodations thoroughly.

The Red Roof Inn, Fattman said, is not a safe space. He said law enforcement and municipal officials have been calling him about issues there such as drug trafficking, prostitution and sex offenders who have lived there in the past.

Fattman said the administration has a policy in play that has “not been well thought out. These are not inept people, but it is an inept approach,” Fattman said.

Why Sutton?

The Sutton Republican questioned the decision to lodge Haitian immigrants in Sutton. He said several Massachusetts communities, from Boston to Medford to Somerville, boast large Haitian populations and would have been better options.

In reviewing the administration’s actions, Fattman noted the lack of communication between Healey’s team and local officials. The accommodations at the Red Roof Inn were booked weeks before their arrival, yet the state only called the municipality after 5 p.m. Aug. 26. Sutton closes its municipal building at noon on Fridays.

“We had a call (Thursday) with the lieutenant governor (Kimberly Driscoll) that was upsetting to me,” Fattman said. While he disagrees with the administration policy of accommodating the influx of migrants, he said his distress comes from the lack of forethought, communication and caution on the part of the administration in finding housing for some 6,200 families throughout Massachusetts.

Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Aug. 8 and has been converting hotels/motels into emergency housing for migrants in more than 80 Massachusetts communities. She has also called up the National Guard to help with logistics like transportation, getting children registered in schools and communication.

On Friday, Healey sent a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlining her administration’s specific requests for changes to the work authorization process to allow migrants to secure work faster and relieve pressure on the emergency shelter system in Massachusetts.

In the letter, Healey requests that the federal government allow provisional work authorization to be issued “incident to status.” Or to allow for a physical receipt of work authorization application materials to be considered a provisional authorization document.

The changes would allow migrants to quickly and immediately apply for work authorization when the law allows it, rather than force them to wait for long and bureaucratic processing procedures that could take months. In addition, the letter urges the Department of Homeland Security to dramatically accelerate its digitization of the immigration process and to build better connectivity between the information collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Healey wrote that Massachusetts has stepped up to address what has been a federal crisis of inaction many years in the making.

“Communities, service providers and our National Guard are going above and beyond to ensure that families arriving in Massachusetts have a safe place to sleep and their basic needs met,” said Healey. “We are grateful to Secretary Mayorkas and his team for meeting with us to hear about the emergency we are facing and the help we need from our federal government."

She also said that the letter requesting the changes to work authorization process “memorializes our requests for additional federal funding.” The requested changes “would support families, reduce the burden on our shelter system, and help us address our state’s workforce needs.”

Pleas for federal action

The conference call with senators came on the heels of an in-person briefing of the representatives in the House on Thursday. Representatives from throughout the state expressed their frustration at the administration’s lack of communication and coordination with local officials.

Many called for the federal government to step up to ameliorate the crisis.

“I had three questions,” Fattman said of the Thursday-afternoon call.

He said he asked whether the state vetted the hotels and motels where it was lodging the families, and learned that the administration on occasion checks the lodgings for cleanliness but not does not vet them from a public safety standpoint.

“I have heard from police and public officials in Sutton that the Red Roof Inn is not a safe space,” Fattman said.

Motorists have called local police to report that people were running across Route 146, some six lanes of traffic, to get to the supermarket on the other side of the highway.

“That’s dangerous,” Fattman said. “What if someone dies? That will be a blemish on the state. It’s not fair to local officials, not fair to first responders.”

The senator, whose district includes the Brimfield Fair and Old Sturbridge Village and also hosts several fall festivals and fairs, decried the state’s lack of consideration of the local economy.

“This is a key time for local businesses,” Fattman said.

Fattman also asked whether the administration had called local authorities to alert them to the influx.

“There was no answer,” Fattman said. He is convinced that if Sutton had known that the migrants were coming, it would have made sure that the hotel was well stocked with the items the families need to survive, from clothing and toiletries to school supplies. And volunteers would have stepped up to provide food, formula and diapers.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Sen. Ryan Fattman wants Healey to better vet migrant hotels