(TheRedWire.com) – Maura Healey, the Governor of Massachusetts, declared a state of emergency despite the fact that her state is technically a “sanctuary” state for illegal migrants. However, according to her recent announcement the levels of migrants entering the state were “unsustainable” as they could not all be supported by the state’s shelter system.
On Tuesday, Healey announced that they were going to try to receive federal assistance in order to handle the close to 5,600 families that were in the state’s shelters. Currently, there are over 20,000 individuals housed in Massachusetts shelters. She also requested that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas take action in order to handle the immigration crisis and the federal policies that have led to this situation.
In her statement, Healey added that state employees and workers have been using every tool available in order to expand the state’s shelter system, as it had reached close to 80 percent of its capacity last year. However, in recent months she discloses that the demand had increased even more and that it was becoming impossible for the emergency shelter system to handle the influx of migrant families that were entering the state.
As she pointed out, families are also not quick to move out of shelters because of the lack of affordable housing options and the inability to get work. This was why she was declaring a state of emergency as a way of showing the federal government that they needed to find ways to address the immigration crisis and streamline the work authorization process.
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