Governor Maura Healey is sending a team of five to the southern border in Texas this week to share the realities of the state’s maxed-out family shelter system with immigration officials and leaders at four of Mexico’s most common points of entry for families that later arrive in Massachusetts.
The move comes “as record numbers of immigrant families continue to arrive in Boston and the state’s family shelter system is at capacity,” Healey’s office said Tuesday in a statement.
The goal is to educate officials and families about “the lack of shelter availability in Massachusetts,” the statement said.
The state’s Emergency Assistance Director General Scott Rice will lead the team. It will meet with representatives from US Customs and Border Protection, Joint Task Force-North, non-governmental organizations, and families in San Antonio, McAllen, Hidalgo, and Brownsville.
“This trip is an important opportunity to meet with families arriving in the US and the organizations that work with them at the border to make sure they have accurate information about the lack of shelter space in Massachusetts,” Rice said in the statement. “It is essential that we get the word out that our shelters are full so that families can plan accordingly to make sure they have a safe place to go.”
Rice will be joined by his deputy director, the pre-shelter policy lead for incident command, the executive director of the state Office of Refugees and Immigrants, and the strategy manager at the Division of Housing Stabilization.
The team is scheduled to visit the San Antonio Airport, Centro de Bienvenida/San Antonio Migrant Resource Center and Shelter, Ursula Processing Facility in McAllen, Hidalgo Port of Entry, and Brownsville Migrant Welcome Center.
Healey recently limited the length of time families can stay in emergency shelters to nine months and established mandatory services and activities residents must engage in to remain eligible to stay at a state safety-net site.
The administration’s prioritization of work authorizations, job training and placement, has resulted in 1,120 shelter residents getting jobs in the past few months, and more than 331 families moving out in May — the highest number in years, according to Healey’s office.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @talanez.
Elaine Hadley is a dedicated journalist covering the ever-evolving landscape of U.S. news. With a keen interest in politics and a commitment to uncovering the truth, she provides insightful commentary and in-depth analysis on domestic issues. When not reporting, Elaine enjoys exploring the diverse cultures and landscapes of the United States.
