Rice’s message at the border: ‘Our shelters are full’

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Scott Rice, governor’s emergency relief director, announces new migrant shelter fund during a news conference at the State House, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 (SHNS)

BOSTON (SHNS) – Governor Maura Healey sent her emergency aid official and others to the U.S. southern border this week to deliver the message that Massachusetts shelters are full and cannot cannot continue to welcome migrant families crossing the border.

State Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice leads a handful of Bay State officials on a trip to connect with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Joint Task Force-North, non-governmental organizations and migrant families at some of the most common entry points for families. who later arrive in Massachusetts: San Antonio, McAllen, Hidalgo and Brownsville, all in Texas.

“This trip is an important opportunity to meet families arriving in the United States and the organizations working with them at the border to ensure they have accurate information about the lack of shelter space in Massachusetts ” said Rice, a retired lieutenant general from Massachusetts. US Air Force, said. “It’s critical that we get the word out that our shelters are full so families can plan accordingly and ensure they have a safe place to go.” »

Healey’s office said the state border delegation will visit the San Antonio Airport, the Centro de Bienvenida/San Antonio Migrant Resource Center and Shelter, the Ursula Processing Plant in McAllen, the Port Hidalgo Entrance Center and the Brownsville Migrant Reception Center. In addition to Rice, the group includes the deputy director of Emergency Assistance Incident Command, the pre-shelter policy manager for Incident Command, the executive director of the MA Office of Refugees and Immigrants and the strategy manager in the Housing Stabilization Division.

For more than a year, the shelter system that Massachusetts is legally required to provide to homeless families has been inundated by an influx of migrant families entering the United States through the southern border and heading to Massachusetts, often because we talk to them about the situation. the State policy on the right to housing as well as the services and benefits offered to them. Healey declared a state of emergency last August and imposed a cap of 7,500 families in the state’s system in the fall.

Healey and the Legislature this spring agreed to a new law imposing a limit on how long families can stay in a public shelter, capping it at nine months. State guidelines released this month indicate that families who have been staying in a public shelter for more than nine months could begin receiving notices by early July telling them they have 90 days to leave and find a other accommodation. The law allows the state to evict a maximum of 150 families per month, in addition to those who leave of their own accord.

In its announcement of the Texas trip, Healey’s office said the number of families leaving the shelter system “has steadily increased each month, with more than 331 families leaving in May — the highest number in years “.

Last month, MassGOP Chairwoman Amy Carnevale sent a letter to Healey imploring the governor to push President Joe Biden to address “the most disastrous border crisis in U.S. history.” Carnevale asked Healey to “leverage your relationship with President Biden as a surrogate for his reelection campaign” to close the border until unauthorized crossings stop, reinstate the “Remain in Mexico” policy, request U.S. Coast Guard patrols in the waters off Massachusetts, and more.

“Governor, you are correct when you say this stems from a “federal crisis of inaction.” Unfortunately, we are disappointed to see you follow suit with this level of inaction by continuing, like the Biden administration, to succumb to political complacency and perpetuate this crisis,” wrote the president of the Republican Party. She added: “It is imperative for our nation and the Commonwealth to tackle and resolve this immigration crisis, by getting the border under control. If President Biden ever plans to take border security seriously, then he needs more Democratic Party leaders like you to demand it.