Massachusetts resident condemns right-to-shelter law turning Bay State into 'destination for migrants'
1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis championed the law's passage during his term as governor
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Massachusetts residents are up in arms over the effect a unique state law has had on the burgeoning migrant crisis there, one Bay Stater told Fox News on Wednesday.
The resident, Paul Diego Craney, said the law has turned Massachusetts into a beacon for those flooding across the Mexican border thousands of miles away.
"In Massachusetts, anyone that steps foot here, if you've been here for 20 years or for 20 minutes, you do have some benefits. And one of them is called a right-to-shelter," he said. " And what that basically means is the taxpayers are mandated to pay for your shelter."
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Migrants are being sheltered at Logan Airport Terminal E overnight. (David L. Ryan/Boston Globe via Getty )
That fact has led to the migrant influx "exploding," he said, noting that illegal immigrats who were housed at Edward Logan International Airport are now being moved to a recreation center in Boston's Roxbury section – to the chagrin of some local residents.
"We are becoming a destination for migrants," he said. "And as a result, our shelter system; our welfare system is stretched beyond thin. And it's becoming pretty much a disaster," Craney added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Craney said the state government has announced it is spending about $1 billion per year on the migrant crisis alone, in part due to the law.
Since its passage in 1983 as a high-profile campaign promise of then-Gov. Michael Dukakis, Massachusetts' right-to-shelter law remains the only one at the state level in the nation. New York City has a similar statute; only confined to the five boroughs.
Craney said MassFiscal Alliance, for which he is a spokesman, polled Bay Staters and found many oppose how the right-to-shelter law is exacerbating the migrant situation, and additionally that a plurality do not support the Healey administration's suggestion that residents consider taking migrants in as wards of their homes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said last August that if people "have an extra room or suite in your home, please consider hosting a family," according to Boston's FOX affiliate.
During last month's inauguration of local officials in Pittsfield, three hours west of Boston, Gov. Maura Healey further admitted the state may have to look to the far-flung Berkshires to house migrants seeking emergency shelter in other areas, according to local reports.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On "America Reports," Craney said 53% of those his group polled said taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for migrant shelter in that regard, and that the crisis is a "big problem" for Healey.
Last year, then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy criticized Healey's erstwhile support for sanctuary city-type policy while serving as state attorney general in 2017, after she eventually declared a state of emergency regarding the migrant crisis in the fall as governor.
"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.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Craney said it seems too much cash is being spent on the problem without proper reforms being addressed, adding most people are compassionate to migrants' hardships, but that such emotion can't itself address the "unsustainable" crisis.
For her part, Healey wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas following her emergency declaration, saying migrants had been drawn to the state because of its position as a "beacon to those in need," and urged reforms to "punitive immigration laws" and work authorization policies as well as a call for more financial assistance for states.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, a local Roxbury resident condemned the use of the neighborhood rec center as a migrant shelter for those being moved from Logan, telling Fox News earlier this year that the largely minority community has called for proper resources and upgrades to public property and has now only seen action on behalf of the migrants.