Boston resident on migrant crisis response: Changes are made without asking for the community's approval
Boston resident Domingos DaRosa reacts to the city moving migrants into the community center on 'America Reports.'
A neighborhood community leader in Boston fired back at Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu after a decision was made to relocate migrants being housed at Edward Logan International Airport to a recreation center he said is indispensable to locals.
Domingos DaRosa, leader of the Boston Bengals youth athletic organization, spoke to Fox News Thursday, claiming it also has apparently taken fulfilling the needs of migrants for the local government to provide upgrades to the facility.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, Wu said migrants' stories "are the same as ours."
"[They are] people who just want to try to give their kids a chance and a better life. And we are a little bit stuck in a system where the federal machinery needs a lot of fixing," Wu said.
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DaRosa took issue with her remarks and called them a case of "passing the buck."
"Boston itself does not have the infrastructure as people might project," he said on "America Reports." "Here, we have families who are always displaced because of natural disasters, fires and things of that nature, emergencies. And, you know, we place them in the Red Cross' hands, and as you know, that's one or two days in a hotel."
"But once that voucher is expired, what do we do next?"
DaRosa said Wu and other leaders must take accountability and admit it is a "bigger picture" issue, and that it also appears public resources being expended on the migrant issue do not exist for regular Bostonians.
Fox News' Gillian Turner further reported another local resident, Rodney Singleton, had asked Healey why the facility in the predominantly-Black neighborhood was requisitioned as the new site – with the man questioning why a more affluent section of town with better resources wasn't considered.
DaRosa said the community has yet to receive a clear reason, surmising that "voting percentages" in the Roxbury neighborhood may be part of the equation.
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"They seem to use Roxbury and certain parts of Boston, where Black-and brown-predominantly people live as they, you know, make changes without asking for the community's approval," he said.
At the press conference, Healey said "we really don't have a choice" in taking action against the migrant influx to Massachusetts, according to New England Cable News.
The governor added that about 90 other Bay State communities are also utilizing the emergency assistance shelter program.
She said she is working on getting work authorizations for about 3,000 people, and also underlined the Roxbury shelter will only be a temporary fix.
Healey said the site will be used until June at the latest, citing concerns voiced by people like DaRosa regarding having neighborhood sites available for summertime community activities.
On Fox News, DaRosa added that the community has been hoping for decades to see the recreation center refurbished, saying the situation shows the urgency the government takes when it comes to certain matters.
"[H]ere in Boston, depending on what the conditions are, they're quick to move money around and make things happen again," he said.
Last year, then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy mocked the Massachusetts government for previously celebrating 'sanctuary' policy before expressing concern at the time about the influx of migrants.
"Now, the donor class that pulls the strings in both parties has decided it's now inside the Overton Window to actually complain about the southern border," he told Fox News in August.
Massachusetts is notably home to a "right to shelter" law, which was passed by 1988 Democratic presidential nominee then-Gov. Michael Dukakis.