BOSTON – It took one week for the state’s newest “safety-net” site to reach its capacity, according to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday. The Cass Recreational Complex in Roxbury was flipped from a community center to a shelter for the state’s Emergency Housing Assistance Program. It places migrants and other unhoused families in Massachusetts in shelters while putting individuals through the state’s work authorization program.
Governor Maura Healey’s office said by the end of the fiscal year, the state will have spent nearly $1 billion on the migrant crisis. The governor expressed frustration on Wednesday toward lawmakers in Washington D.C. who failed to pass an immigration reform bill that would have provided the first major reform in a generation.
“I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated,” said Healey. “(Lawmakers) had a deal last night that would’ve fixed the border, fixed immigration, it would’ve ended the migrant crisis and the inflow into this country. It would’ve given $118 billion to states like Massachusetts, that have been bearing the costs for so long.”