As President Joe Biden’s border crisis continues to spread, affecting states far from the southern border, the Democrat governor of Massachusetts has declared a state of emergency as illegal aliens have overwhelmed the state’s services.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, noting in her declaration that the massive number of illegal aliens flooding Massachusetts have “stretched” the state’s shelter systems “thin.”
We met newly arrived families seeking safety and shelter in MA with compassion & resources, but our shelter system is stretched thin.
With this state of emergency, I'm delivering an urgent appeal to the federal govt: remove barriers standing between new arrivals & opportunity. pic.twitter.com/BL0RXEOMPv
— Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) August 8, 2023
In a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey asserted that the state of emergency was caused by “rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people – many of them newly arriving migrants and refugees – living within the state but without the means to secure safe shelter in our communities.”
The Democrat governor went on to admit that federal immigration policies were partly to blame for the crisis, though she also claimed that “burdensome barriers keeping people from getting work authorizations” were exacerbating the problem — despite evidence showing that giving illegal aliens better opportunities in the job market will just serve as a magnet for more illegal immigration.
Healey then provided data about the situation her state is facing.
“Over the past six months, the demand for emergency shelter has skyrocketed,” the letter read. “In March of this year, 68 families per day were coming to our field offices seeking assistance. By July, that number had jumped to over 100 families per day. By comparison, in March of 2022, only 25 families per day came to our offices to request help. Currently, shelter entries per month are more than double the number of entries per month during the pandemic and roughly one-third higher than pre-pandemic levels.”
“At the same time, the number of families leaving emergency shelter for safe, permanent housing has dwindled,” the letter continued. “The number of families exiting shelter has declined by nearly two-thirds since 2019. These trends are driven by many factors, including a confusing tangle of immigration laws, an inability for migrants to obtain work authorization from the federal government, an increase in the number of people coming to Massachusetts, and the lack of an affordable housing supply in our state.”
🚨BREAKING: Sanctuary state Massachusetts’ governor Maura Healey declares a state of emergency over influx of illegals.
As of today, close to 5600 migrants families living in government funded facilities across Massachusetts. That figure is 80% higher than it was last year.… pic.twitter.com/eRULqTNxag
— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) August 8, 2023
