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Senators say migrant ‘sponsors’ could owe state money, Healey says it’s unlikely
Some lawmakers want Healey to seek reimbursement, but her administration said very few migrant families came to the state with financial sponsors.
Several state lawmakers said that while they “appreciate the pressure” Governor Maura Healey has put on the federal government to financially support the state through an unprecedented migrant crisis, there’s another avenue she should pursue.
In a letter, Democrat state Sen. Michael Moore, minority leader state Sen. Bruce Tarr, and nine other legislators asked Healey to hold certain migrants’ financial sponsors financially accountable.
The lawmakers say “many” of the migrants who have entered Massachusetts came through a federal program called Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, or CHNV. This allows people who pass a background check and have local financial support, among other criteria, to immigrate to the United States for two years to live and work, in a process known as “humanitarian parole.”
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A spokesperson for Healey said they are reviewing the letter, but added that “very few” families in the shelter system entered through CHNV humanitarian parole.
According to the lawmakers, the financial sponsors could be responsible for ensuring migrants have housing, healthcare, and education as well as paperwork for employment and other services. A financial sponsor can be a person, organization, business, or other entity, according to the letter.
“This program, if properly administered, has the ability to bring accountability and desperately needed resources to our immigration system. We need to know how much it is being utilized, if its participants are meeting the obligations they committed to, and if we can expand its use to increase resources and accountability,” Tarr said in a statement.
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The lawmakers asked Healey to compile data about families in the shelter system who have financial sponsors and seek reimbursement.
“It is unclear why the Commonwealth may be covering the necessary expenses of these migrants instead of their financial sponsors who – under penalty of
perjury – have expressly certified that they are willing and able to provide that financial support,” the letter said.
The Haitian migrant charged with raping a 15-year-old girl at a shelter was in Massachusetts through the the CHNV parole, according to federal lawmakers when they launched an inquiry into the incident in March. At the time, Healey did not say which federal program supported the man’s immigration.
Last week, Healey also sent five officials from her administration to Texas to warn incoming families against coming to Massachusetts due to a lack of shelter space.
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