Gov. Maura Healey deliberate to satisfy with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas Thursday, solely weeks after the governor declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts and petitioned the secretary for assist with an inflow of migrants.
Mayorkas was in Boston for 2 publicly scheduled occasions, an awards ceremony at a U.S. Coast Guard Base close to the North End and a naturalization ceremony at Faneuil Hall. After an occasion in Wellesley earlier within the day, Healey stated she deliberate to satisfy with the secretary on the State House.
The assembly comes greater than two weeks after Healey penned a letter to Mayorkas calling on him and the Biden administration to take away “burdensome barriers” to work authorizations for migrants and supply extra federal funding to deal with an inflow of recent arrivals.
Healey stated employers across the state are able to make use of migrants as nurses, laborers, and “so much more.”
“And my meeting with Secretary Mayorkas, with whom I’ve already had conversations, as well as with the Biden administration, will hopefully work to advance some of that, particularly focused on work authorization,” Healey stated in Wellesley.
A Mayorkas spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the assembly.
As of Wednesday morning, 5,906 displaced and migrant households have been staying in state shelters. That is 356 extra households than Aug. 7, the day earlier than Healey declared a state of emergency in response to a fast improve in migrant arrivals that has pushed emergency shelters to the brink.
More than 80 communities across the state are housing migrants in motels and motels. Healey has stated the administration is spending roughly $45 million a month on sheltering and offering primary requirements to displaced and migrant households.
About 100 migrant households have been scheduled to reach in Woburn subsequent week. Framingham officers stated they’ve positioned 40-plus households in three motels throughout the town over the previous two weeks.
The state has “indicated to [Framingham] that more families are due in August and September,” an Aug. 20 assertion from Mayor Charlie Sisitsky stated.
Healey stated officers are “doing our very best” to ensure there may be clear communication after migrant households have arrived unexpectedly in a number of Massachusetts communities this month.
Migrant households are arriving daily and “we have to hustle as best we can to find lodging and housing for them,” Healey stated.
“It’s a very fast moving process. It’s not the way we would have designed this, but it’s the situation we have, frankly, because of Congress’s failure to pass needed immigration reform,” Healey stated. “We’re going to continue to work with our community partners with local electeds on all of this.”
Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state, which implies officers are required by regulation to supply housing to homeless households, together with new arrivals.
Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin stated the regulation and federal “inaction” on immigration reform makes Massachusetts an “attractive destination for migrants.”
Healey stated she understands native mayors’ frustrations or considerations.
“We also appreciate how willing communities have been and local officials have been engaging with us as we collectively try to address the needs,” she stated.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”