Massachusetts governor declares emergency over immigrants: ‘This is a national issue’
Anna Giaritelli
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“Sanctuary” state Massachusetts is the latest to declare a state of emergency for its inability to respond to thousands of immigrants who have arrived after being released from federal custody at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“This is a national issue that demands a national response,” said Democratic Gov. Maura Healey during a press conference Tuesday morning. “Today, I am declaring a state of emergency in Massachusetts.”
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Healey called on Washington to help Massachusetts because the state could not financially or logistically respond to the 20,000 immigrants living in state-funded shelters, hotels, dormitories, and other emergency facilities statewide — an 80% increase from a year ago.
“It’s more families than our state has ever served, exponentially more than our state has ever served in our emergency assistance program,” Healey said at the event two thousand miles away from the southern tip of Texas and the border crisis epicenter.
“We’re unable to move people from housing and shelter into permanent housing because of this, so instead, we’ve been expanding and continuing to look for housing and shelter opportunities, expanding shelter at a rapid pace, and it’s unsustainable.”
Massachusetts joins other localities, including New York City, Chicago, and Washington, that have grappled to respond to the number of immigrants released into their communities from the border under President Joe Biden. All are sanctuary zones that have refused to cooperate with U.S. government immigration policies.
In 2017, the state’s top court ruled that state court officers do not have the authority to arrest or hold an illegal immigrant solely because he or she was named in a federal immigration request, effectively making the state a “sanctuary” zone.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), a 2024 GOP presidential candidate, had touted the state’s sanctuary status when he flew a group of immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. Residents on the island erupted at the move, which DeSantis argued was hypocritical given the state’s willingness to help immigrants despite their having entered the country unlawfully.
Since Biden took office, more than 2 million people who illegally came across the southern border have been released into the U.S. The large majority make their own travel arrangements to places across the country.