As Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey prepares to move illegal immigrants to Boston’s Soldiers’ Home—a facility traditionally dedicated to housing American veterans—a recent poll unveils growing dissatisfaction in the state regarding the funds allocated for sheltering illegal immigrants.
In a recent survey conducted by the MassINC Polling Group for WGBH News/CommonWealth Beacon, findings show that 47 percent of participants are against offering emergency shelter to illegal immigrants, while 45 percent are in favor. This marks a ten-point decline from the 55 percent who backed the idea in an October 2023 poll by the same firm.
“The budgetary impacts are becoming more clear, and people are beginning to see it as a bigger issue, perhaps, than it was when it first began,” MassINC president Steve Koczela told WGBH, a public broadcasting station in Boston.
The poll question specific to illegal immigrant housing asked, “Recently, thousands of migrants have come to Massachusetts, many of whom are currently being housed in the state’s emergency shelter system. Overall, do you support or oppose housing migrants in the emergency shelter system?”
Republican lawmakers and grassroots organizations are currently advocating to modify the shelter law by including a residency requiremnt, spurred by the significant expenditure by the Healey administration to accommodate noncitizens in the New England state.
In an emergency declaration letter dated August 8th that Ms. Healey sent to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last year, it was revealed that Massachusetts taxpayers are currently covering an average of $45 million per month to house illegal immigrants.
Ms. Healey has recently requested an additional $500 million from lawmakers to address the expenses associated with housing illegal immigrants in the state.
Out of the 1,002 individuals surveyed in the MassInc poll, 8 percent either chose not to respond to the question regarding housing for illegal immigrants or indicated that they were uncertain about their stance on the matter.
According to the WGBH article, Robin Nice, who chairs the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, described the decline in support for illegal immigrants as “alarming.”
“If you were to rephrase this question as, ‘Would you do anything to keep your kids safe and to keep a roof over their head?’ I would imagine that that result will be 100%,” she reportedly said in a written response to the results.
“Shift the conversation and think about what do we need and what do we all deserve as humans, regardless of where we may have been born?” she added.
Residents living near the emergency shelters for illegal immigrants claim that the governor has not sought any input from them.
Rick Silva, residing adjacent to the Soldiers’ Home complex in Chelsea, is one of the neighbors who recently expressed to The Epoch Times their frustration that the Healey administration did not engage them in discussions about her plans.
Mr. Silva and fellow neighbors voiced their worries about reported criminal activity and other issues occurring at encampments of illegal immigrants both within the state and across the nation.
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