Massachusetts Becomes Latest in String of Blue States to Declare State of Emergency over Illegal Migrant Surge

During an afternoon press conference at the Massachusetts state house, Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency following the influx of thousands of illegal migrants that has pushed social services across the state to a breaking point.

“[D]ue to [the] rapid and unabating increases in the number of families with children and pregnant people,” the governor said in a prepared statement, “The need for action is urgent.”

“Right now, more than 5,500 families,” Healey, the former Massachusetts Attorney General, continued, “They are in danger of going without the most basic of human rights in one of the most prosperous places on earth: the ability to lay their heads down in a safe place every night with a roof over their heads and with access to fundamental human necessities. They have called upon us to help give them shelter and the ability to work.”

The Democratic governor alluded to the potential need for a state of emergency during a speech in June. “I am going to do whatever I can to maximize resources and funding and support from the federal government as we continue to work with communities and nonprofits around the state,” Healey told reporters at the time.

The move now permits the state to seek federal assistance and the governor to enlist the help of the National Guard to address the ongoing crisis.

Since Healey took office in January, the state’s emergency shelter system has struggled to accommodate a surge in migrants, with more than 1,500 new families arriving in the last several months. The influx has even forced the governor to designate hotels as temporary shelters.

“In the past year or so, that number has grown so quickly,” John Yazwinski, a spokesperson for a shelter system in south Boston, told Politico. “In years past, it’s usually been about 5 percent.”

A similar note was struck by Danielle Ferrier, the chief executive of another Boston homeless service provider. “This really is a safety issue when we have this many people being housed in large sites who either aren’t being staffed at all or not enough,” she told the Boston Globe.

“There’s been a group of providers who have really been pushing hard in the governor’s office” for this. “It is not safe any longer on the ground, in our sites,” Ferrier added.

In September 2022, Democratic state legislators denounced Florida governor Ron DeSantis for flying illegal immigrants to Massachusetts. One representative whose district encompasses parts of Martha’s Vineyard, where many of the migrants were dispatched, called the governor’s actions  “f***ing depraved.”

“The Governor of one of the biggest states in the nation has been spending time hatching a secret plot to round up & ship people-children, families-lying to them about where theyre going just to gain cheap political points on Tucker Calrson [sic] and MAGA twitter. It’s f***ing depraved,” Representative Dylan Fernandes wrote on social media.

“What they are doing is a legal stunt, is a political stunt. It’s really just disrespectful to humanity,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference at the time.

In 1983, Massachusetts passed a one-of-a-kind “right-to-shelter” law that mandated immediate housing for qualifying families, which has exacerbated the state’s current predicament. Republican representative Peter Durant implored Healey to consider pulling the law in the wake of her announcement.

“Our homeless shelters are maxed out. Hotels across the state have been converted to shelters. And the problem is growing on a daily basis. Worse yet, all of this assistance is being taken away from our legal residents and it is a potential safety risk for the children. It is time to repeal the Right to Settle law, so Massachusetts will stop being a magnet state. Today, I am asking Governor Healey to file emergency legislation to repeal it,” the representative wrote in a public statement.

Healey’s announcement now brings Massachusetts in line with other Democratic districts, including New York City, El Paso, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, which have all made similar moves in recent months.