Gov. Maura Healey knew a migrant tsunami was coming, but instead of steering the ship of state into deeper waters for safety, she headed for the dock.
The fiscal damage has been close to $2 billion.
As the Herald reported, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration offered a written warning to Healey about a surge of migrants and dwindling state shelter capacity in November 2022, months before she took office, according to a transition document approved by Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Kennealy when he was secretary of housing and economic development.
That was more than a year after President Joe Biden had started reversing Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration when he took office. As Pew Research noted in 2022, Biden’s plans included boosting refugee admissions, preserving deportation relief for unauthorized immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and not enforcing the “public charge” rule that denies green cards to immigrants who might use public benefits like Medicaid.
It worked. The border was porous, the number of migrants soared.
The Baker Administration knew things could go south for the state. That written warning largely focused on the need to expand shelter capacity and provide more funding to the emergency assistance program. While hindsight is 20/20, this warning should have spurred Healey to keep the red carpet in the closet.
But Healey upheld the “presumptive eligibility” part of the state’s right-to-shelter law. That’s where shelter applicants are presumed to be eligible for shelter and receive shelter benefits before producing necessary documentation.
Massachusetts issued driver’s licenses regardless of immigration status, and the Healey Administration pulled out the stops to get work authorizations for migrants.
Massachusetts was a generous port in the storm. At least until the reality that prompted Baker’s warning letter set in.
By then the state had already taken a beating; communities were “selected” to house migrant shelters, like it or not. Migrants were arrested for often-heinous crimes, and the bill to taxpayers kept mounting.
Healey got on board, eventually. In 2023 she issued a state of emergency, about a year after she received that warning letter. Healey also issued a nine-month length of stay policy for the state’s Emergency Assistance Family Shelter System, in June of ’24.
And in March of this year, Healey directed that all adults applying for Emergency Assistance shelter are required to undergo a CORI check, in addition to SORI and warrant checks. Under these new regulations, individuals will not be eligible for EA if they fail to consent to a CORI check or if they have been convicted of a serious crime, like murder, arson, kidnapping, rape and felonies against children. This would have been good to have in place before alleged child rapists were arrested in emergency shelters.
Finally, Healey eliminated presumptive eligibility. Shelter applicants are now required to verify their identity, residency, and status prior to placement.
Massachusetts taxpayers shouldn’t have had to ride out Healey’s policy evolutions. The changes she eventually made are common sense. Keep communities safe, make shelter stays a stop-gap measure instead of a long-term residence.
And last year’s trip by administration officials to Texas to spread the “Massachusetts is full” message? That was about a year too late.
Healey owes taxpayers an apology — and then some.
Editorial cartoon by Chip Bok (Creators Syndicate)