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Read: Gov. Baker asks feds for ‘urgent’ assistance for resettlement of immigrants
"Massachusetts is proud to welcome individuals and families seeking asylum and refuge and is dedicated to helping families live with dignity, but additional federal support is required."
Immigration in Mass.:
As Massachusetts sees a “marked increase” in the number of immigrant families arriving in the commonwealth, Gov. Charlie Baker wrote to federal immigration officials on Monday, asking them to consider allocating more supports for refugees and immigrants and making changes to quickly allow the state’s newest arrivals to obtain jobs.
The letter comes as Baker’s administration faces criticism from local-level leaders, who say state officials gave them little-to-no notice before placing migrant and homeless families at hotels in their communities — including in Plymouth and Kingston — amid high demand in the commonwealth’s shelter system.
Baker wrote to ask for “urgent” assistance from federal partners.
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“Massachusetts is proud to welcome individuals and families seeking asylum and refuge and is dedicated to helping families live with dignity, but additional federal support is required,” Baker wrote in the letter to the secretaries of the federal Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. “Additional federal efforts would make obtaining employment opportunities and benefits easier for these individuals and help them build their lives and relieve the strain on the public services.”
The Bay State has seen a rise in refugees, migrants, and immigrants this year.
According to Baker, Massachusetts-based resettlement agencies have served 4,334 people, including more than 2,000 Afghan humanitarian parolees, 822 Cuban and Haitian entrants, and 548 refugees.
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The state’s shelter system has seen “a significant increase” in the number of immigrant families looking for shelter, too, Baker wrote. The state’s Department of Housing and Community Development reported 133 families — or over 400 individuals — entered shelters between July and Oct. 1.
Aside from the high-profile influx of nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard in September by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Boston alone, in months prior, had seen over 2,000 migrants arrive in the city.
In his letter, Baker, who has said the nation’s immigration system — a federally manager matter — is currently broken, acknowledged Massachusetts is far from the only state struggling to keep up with the rate of new arrivals.
But, he said, federal officials have to step up.
“As long as the situation at the southern border remains unchanged, Massachusetts and many other states will struggle to cope with this substantial increase in immigrant families accessing shelter and other services,” he wrote. “I respectfully call on the federal government to do its part in providing urgent assistance.”
Specifically, Baker is asking DHS and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to expedite and streamline the process of granting work authorization to eligible new arrivals and asylum seekers. The current process can take between six and 12 months, Baker wrote.
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“Asylum-seekers are not even eligible for employment authorization until their asylum application has been pending for 180 days,” the governor’s letter states. “During these times, these groups are legally present in the United States and yet have no ability to support themselves, with obvious negative consequences both for the individuals and a receiving state. A faster path to legal employment would not only provide these individuals with a path to self-sustainability but would also aid Massachusetts employers who are eager to hire amidst the current workforce shortage.”
Baker is also asking federal officials to re-evaluate the “level and scope” of services managed by the Office of Refugee Resettlement that are provided to refugee “and other ORR-eligble populations,” arguing the current service levels do not meet the present-day needs of the nation’s new arrivals.
“ORR’s allocation of additional assistance to Afghan and Ukrainian parolees responded to this problem, and while it supported those designated populations, the resulting disparity with other arriving populations
exacerbated existing inequities,” he wrote. “I ask that the HHS and ORR substantially increase the amount allocated to all refugee and other ORR-eligible populations and dedicate additional funding for housing and legal
assistance.”
Additionally, Baker wants to see an expansion of the demographics of immigrants the federal government considerers eligible for support.
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“The complex line-drawing that determines eligibility for federal support for new arrivals results in arbitrary and unproductive distinctions among arriving populations that are similarly situated and that present similar needs and place similar pressures on receiving states,” he wrote. “Certain ORR-eligible populations are eligible for only a fraction of the benefits of refugees, and other populations are excluded from federal benefits entirely.”
Last week, the state Department of Housing and Community Development’s moved 107 people, including 64 children, into a Kingston hotel and 27 families into a Plymouth hotel amid shortages at shelters.
Most of the people at the Kingston hotel are undocumented immigrants from Haiti who speak little to no English, while others are people who are homeless but have resided in Massachusetts for a longer amount of time.
Families at the Plymouth hotel are primarily from Haiti and Central America.
Last month, Boston City Councilor At-Large Ruthzee Louijeune called for a hearing to discuss migrant needs and services in the city, citing a “substantial rise in the number of migrant families seeking shelter and asylyum” in the Hub this year.
Louijeune’s hearing order cited the Immigrant Family Services Institute, a Mattapan-based nonprofit organization, which reported it welcomed over 1,800 people between May and July, with most of the arriving migrants spurred to seek safety in the United States due to violence in Haiti. An estimate for August topped 600 people — a “six-fold increase from a typical month,” the filing said.
Baker is also not the only official calling for help from federal leaders.
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Nearly all of the state’s congressional delegation last month also asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency and DHS to grant funding for local groups providing humanitarian aid to migrants “as quickly as possible,” in light of the uptick of migrants in Boston and DeSantis’ political stunt on Martha’s Vineyard.
Read Baker’s full letter:
Baker Letter to Federal Agencies About Immigration Aid by Christopher Gavin on Scribd
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