There is growing dissatisfaction in the state about the amount of money spent on sheltering illegal immigrants, according to a recent survey, as Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey gets ready to relocate illegal immigrants into Boston's Soldiers’ Home, a building that has long been a home for American soldiers.
In an October 2023 poll by the same polling firm, 55 percent of respondents supported giving emergency shelter to illegal immigrants; this is a 10-point decline from the 47 percent who support the policy, according to a WGBH News/CommonWealth Beacon poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group.
Boston public radio station WGBH quoted MassINC president Steve Koczela as saying, "The budgetary impacts are becoming more clear, and people are beginning to see it as a bigger issue, perhaps, than it was when it first began."
"Recently, thousands of migrants have come to Massachusetts, many of whom are currently being housed in the state's emergency shelter system," said the poll question specifically on housing for illegal immigrants. In general, are you in favor of or against placing migrants in the system of emergency shelters?
After the Healey administration spent billions of dollars housing noncitizens in the New England state, Republican politicians and grassroots groups are aggressively pushing to change the shelter statute to include a residency requirement.
Massachusetts taxpayers are paying an average of $45 million a month to host illegal immigrants, according to a letter Ms. Healey issued to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on August 8, 2018, declaring an emergency. Recently, Ms. Healey requested legislators for an additional $500 million to help pay for the state's expense of housing undocumented immigrants.
Eight percent of the 1,002 respondents to the MassInc survey said they were unsure of their feelings on housing for undocumented immigrants or chose not to respond to the issue at all.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association's New England Chapter Chair, Robin Nice, described the decline in support for undocumented immigrants as "alarming," according to the WGBH story.
If you were to ask, "Would you do anything to keep your kids safe and to keep a roof over their heads?," instead of asking this question According to reports, she responded to the findings in writing, saying, "I would imagine that that result will be 100%." "Change the subject and consider what, as human beings, we all deserve and need, regardless of where we may have been born."
Some of the Chelsea neighbors who have expressed their anger to The Epoch Times include Rick Silva and others who live close to the Soldiers' Home complex. They claim that the Healey administration never brought up her intentions with them. "We ought to be aware. The manager of a food shop, Mr. Silva, said, "It seems like they are trying to keep it quiet." "To me, it seems like a cunning move."
In the state and around the nation, illegal immigrant encampments have been the subject of reports of criminal activity and other issues, which has alarmed Mr. Silva and other residents.
Residents of New York state have voiced concerns about drug usage, prostitution, and noisy parties at locations housing undocumented immigrants.
A 15-year-old Haitian girl was among the undocumented immigrants that the state of Massachusetts was keeping at a motel in Rockland. The youngster reportedly suffered a rape in March at the hands of a male who shared the residence.
Former U.S. Marine Mr. Silva expressed his disgust at the state harboring illegal immigrants while Boston authorities had done little to help homeless veterans for decades. "Why did Healey bring them here? We have all seen them wandering around Boston for years," he questioned.
Veterans who make more over $300 per month are required by state legislation to pay $30 per day for accommodation at the Chelsea facility.
Additional neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, said that although illegal immigrants get daily food and free housing at the Soldiers' Home, veterans must pay to reside there.
Relocating the illegal immigrants to the large hilltop property involves putting them in an empty building, according to the Healey administration. Situated in a serene residential neighborhood, it is one of Boston's remaining working-class and middle-class areas.
Ms. Healey said at a news conference that the abandoned facility at the Chelsea veterans' home was "slated for demolition," but she also mentioned how it "may be quite easily and readily repurposed into a safety net site" for undocumented immigrants.
The structure has only been empty for a few months, according to Mr. Silva.
According to the Healey administration, "families only" will be residing in the house with around 100 undocumented immigrants at some point in April.
In an October 2023 poll by the same polling firm, 55 percent of respondents supported giving emergency shelter to illegal immigrants; this is a 10-point decline from the 47 percent who support the policy, according to a WGBH News/CommonWealth Beacon poll conducted by MassINC Polling Group.
Boston public radio station WGBH quoted MassINC president Steve Koczela as saying, "The budgetary impacts are becoming more clear, and people are beginning to see it as a bigger issue, perhaps, than it was when it first began."
"Recently, thousands of migrants have come to Massachusetts, many of whom are currently being housed in the state's emergency shelter system," said the poll question specifically on housing for illegal immigrants. In general, are you in favor of or against placing migrants in the system of emergency shelters?
After the Healey administration spent billions of dollars housing noncitizens in the New England state, Republican politicians and grassroots groups are aggressively pushing to change the shelter statute to include a residency requirement.
Massachusetts taxpayers are paying an average of $45 million a month to host illegal immigrants, according to a letter Ms. Healey issued to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on August 8, 2018, declaring an emergency. Recently, Ms. Healey requested legislators for an additional $500 million to help pay for the state's expense of housing undocumented immigrants.
Eight percent of the 1,002 respondents to the MassInc survey said they were unsure of their feelings on housing for undocumented immigrants or chose not to respond to the issue at all.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association's New England Chapter Chair, Robin Nice, described the decline in support for undocumented immigrants as "alarming," according to the WGBH story.
If you were to ask, "Would you do anything to keep your kids safe and to keep a roof over their heads?," instead of asking this question According to reports, she responded to the findings in writing, saying, "I would imagine that that result will be 100%." "Change the subject and consider what, as human beings, we all deserve and need, regardless of where we may have been born."
Some of the Chelsea neighbors who have expressed their anger to The Epoch Times include Rick Silva and others who live close to the Soldiers' Home complex. They claim that the Healey administration never brought up her intentions with them. "We ought to be aware. The manager of a food shop, Mr. Silva, said, "It seems like they are trying to keep it quiet." "To me, it seems like a cunning move."
In the state and around the nation, illegal immigrant encampments have been the subject of reports of criminal activity and other issues, which has alarmed Mr. Silva and other residents.
Residents of New York state have voiced concerns about drug usage, prostitution, and noisy parties at locations housing undocumented immigrants.
A 15-year-old Haitian girl was among the undocumented immigrants that the state of Massachusetts was keeping at a motel in Rockland. The youngster reportedly suffered a rape in March at the hands of a male who shared the residence.
Former U.S. Marine Mr. Silva expressed his disgust at the state harboring illegal immigrants while Boston authorities had done little to help homeless veterans for decades. "Why did Healey bring them here? We have all seen them wandering around Boston for years," he questioned.
Veterans who make more over $300 per month are required by state legislation to pay $30 per day for accommodation at the Chelsea facility.
Additional neighbors, who wished to remain anonymous, said that although illegal immigrants get daily food and free housing at the Soldiers' Home, veterans must pay to reside there.
Relocating the illegal immigrants to the large hilltop property involves putting them in an empty building, according to the Healey administration. Situated in a serene residential neighborhood, it is one of Boston's remaining working-class and middle-class areas.
Ms. Healey said at a news conference that the abandoned facility at the Chelsea veterans' home was "slated for demolition," but she also mentioned how it "may be quite easily and readily repurposed into a safety net site" for undocumented immigrants.
The structure has only been empty for a few months, according to Mr. Silva.
According to the Healey administration, "families only" will be residing in the house with around 100 undocumented immigrants at some point in April.
