THE MASSACHUSETTS state shelter system, now serving around 20,000 people across 5,600 families, is strained almost to capacity – a “humanitarian crisis” of migrant families drawing renewed attention to the ongoing Bay State housing crisis. The governor made an emergency declaration asking for federal aid to deal with the impact of the migrant influx on […]
Immigration
Posted inGovernment, Housing, Immigration
Healey declares state of emergency for ‘unsustainable’ migrant housing crisis
THE RATE OF MIGRANTS coming into Massachusetts, fleeing unsafe countries and looking for work and housing, is “unsustainable” without intervention from the federal government, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday. She declared a state of emergency, the state’s first since the 2020 start of the Covid-19 pandemic, to marshal state resources and issue an “urgent and […]
Posted inOpinion
There’s a fatal flaw in fast-track immigration proceedings
TWO YEARS AGO, the Biden administration launched an initiative, known as the dedicated docket, to fast track the cases of certain asylum-seeking families, promising fairness and efficiency in the nation’s notoriously backlogged immigration courts. But as a report released this week reveals, the dedicated docket has sacrificed fairness for speed and quietly expedited injustice for […]
Posted inEducation
Momentum building for removing another barrier for immigrants
THE LEGISLATURE last year approved a new law giving immigrants without legal status the ability to apply for state-issued driver’s licenses. The bill had been kicking around Beacon Hill for nearly two decades, and it finally passed with enough support to override a gubernatorial veto, driven by a coalition of supporters who pressed hard for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Advocates blocked from having lawyers at police meeting about missing East Boston woman
A FURTHER EXAMPLE of the disparate treatment by law enforcement of cases involving victims of color and White people, or an innocent misunderstanding in the heat of the moment? Those are the dueling accounts of an encounter this week between Boston police and advocates for an East Boston woman who has been missing since late […]
Posted inImmigration, State Government, State House News Service
House leaders wary of Baker prediction on immigrants
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FORMER GOVERNOR Charlie Baker’s warnings that the state’s emergency assistance shelter system is overfilling with migrants and will not be able to guarantee spots for eligible families come March featured an “artificial deadline,” one top lawmaker said Monday. Top Baker administration deputies formally warned lawmakers in late December that within 90 […]
Posted inEconomy
Low birth rates, slow immigration harms state workforce
ALMOST EVERY INDUSTRY, from hospitals to restaurants, is struggling to hire in Massachusetts. And while some of this may be due to COVID-related factors that will eventually diminish, a new report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says one major reason for the challenge is not going away any time soon: demographics. The new report puts […]
Posted inEconomy
Retaining international students should be a top priority for Massachusetts
THE RECENT MIDTERM elections are just the latest in a long string of events that have put immigration in the national spotlight. Unfortunately, the politics distract the public from understanding the critical role of legal immigrants in making our nation and our state more economically competitive. Foreign talent is critical for staffing science and technology […]
Posted inOpinion
A college president’s assessment of DACA
TEN YEARS AGO, on June 15, 2012, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, directed by President Barack Obama, issued a memorandum to US customs, border, and immigration agencies: “Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children.” The memo, which outlined the policies and procedures that would become known […]
Posted inImmigration, Politics, State Government
Voters approve millionaires tax, retain driver’s license law for immigrants
MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS DELIVERED a double victory to two progressive causes on Tuesday, approving by narrow margins ballot questions to impose a new income tax surcharge on high earners and to retain a recently passed law that will allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. The two high-profile ballot questions, which at times seemed to draw […]