Baker seeks ‘urgent assistance’ from federal government for influx of migrants - The Boston Globe

The concern successful Massachusetts is analyzable by the state’s right-to-shelter law, which legally obligates the Baker medication to location stateless families. “We are having a batch of folks onshore present and say, ‘I’m homeless,’ and we person to find answers for them not time . . . not adjacent week, now,” helium said.

Baker’s attack to the caller question of migration stands successful crisp opposition to that of different Republican governors, particularly those from Southern states. In a high-profile governmental stunt, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida flew 49 mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard successful September. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has bused thousands of migrants to Northern cities, often without coordinating with section officials.

In the closing months of his administration, Baker has, arsenic ever, taken a much technocratic and little bombastic tack.

In an Oct. 31 missive addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Baker wrote: “As agelong arsenic the concern astatine the confederate borderline remains unchanged, Massachusetts and galore different states volition conflict to header with this important summation successful migrant families accessing structure and different services.”

The missive included the state’s archetypal nationalist accounting of caller migrant arrivals. From October 2021 done September 2022, “Massachusetts-based resettlement agencies served 4,334 individuals,” according to Baker. Of those, 2,000 were Afghan, 822 were Cuban oregon Haitian, and 548 were refugees from different countries.

But adjacent those important numbers correspond a important undercount of the existent fig of arrivals, according to figures compiled by the Globe successful caller weeks.

The manager of 1 Mattapan nonprofit, for example, said her enactment has received 6,000 recently arrived migrants since March. The immense bulk of them are Haitian, according to the nonprofit, which suggests that the existent fig of Haitian arrivals exceeds the number successful Baker’s missive by thousands.

And the manager of a nonprofit successful Chelsea said her radical has helped much than 2,000 Latin American migrants who person reached Massachusetts this year. None of those arrivals are included successful the Baker count, manager Gladys Vega said.

Internal figures from different Massachusetts nonprofit, the International Institute of New England, amusement the radical helped 4,191 radical — including Afghans and Ukrainians — betwixt October 2021 and September 2022. Most of the institute’s clients look to beryllium included successful Baker’s count, according to its main executive.

Based connected those figures and others, it appears that nary less than 11,000 migrants and refugees person reached the authorities successful the past year. A spokesperson for the Baker medication did not quality the Globe’s count.

And the gait of arrivals has been accelerating. Geralde Gabeau of the Immigrant Family Services Institute successful Mattapan and Vega of La Colaborativa successful Chelsea said the numbers this twelvemonth acold transcend those of past year. Since the summer, Gabeau’s radical has been taking successful caller migrants astatine much than 5 times the complaint that it did during the archetypal fractional of past year.

In his letter, Baker implored the national authorities to assistance the authorities resettle the caller migrants, galore of whom get with children. As portion of his appeal, the politician placed the state’s problems successful the discourse of an migration situation that is playing retired nationally.

“I recognize astir each state, particularly those closest to the border, are struggling to support up with serving caller arrivals released from the confederate border,” helium wrote.

“Massachusetts is arrogant to invited individuals and families seeking asylum and refuge and is dedicated to helping families unrecorded with dignity,” helium added, “but further national enactment is required.”

He made several circumstantial requests.

First, helium asked that the Department of Homeland Security expedite approvals of enactment authorizations for the migrants, a process that presently tin instrumentality six to 12 months, helium wrote.

“During these times, these groups are legally contiguous successful the United States and yet person nary quality to enactment themselves, with evident antagonistic consequences some for the individuals and a receiving state,” helium wrote.

Second, helium asked the authorities to summation payments to the state’s nonprofit resettlement agencies, which link eligible migrants with lodging and ineligible services. The “current . . . work levels bash not conscionable the needs of these caller arrivals,” helium wrote.

Finally, helium asked the authorities to grow eligibility for national benefits, including currency assistance and occupation placement programs, calling the existent standards “arbitrary and unproductive.”

“Certain . . . populations are eligible for lone a fraction of the benefits of refugees, and different populations are excluded from national benefits entirely,” helium wrote, adjacent though these groups “present akin needs and spot akin pressures connected receiving states.”

Haitians, for example, are not eligible for benefits disposable to Afghans, helium wrote, adjacent though some groups are fleeing societal breakdown successful their location countries.

A spokesperson for the DHS said the bureau responds to letters specified arsenic Baker’s “directly.” The US Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a petition for remark Tuesday.

Nonprofit leaders and section officials applauded the governor’s letter.

“Those of america progressive successful this enactment are grateful for his enactment connected this,” said Jeffrey Thielman, main enforcement of the International Institute of New England. “He is saying that we request further national support, and we wholly hold with that.”

Baker’s missive comes astatine a clip of expanding hostility and finger-pointing betwixt officials astatine assorted levels of government. Last week, leaders of Plymouth and Kingston criticized the Baker administration’s handling of the relocation of dozens of migrants families to their towns.

As successful different cities — including New York, wherever Mayor Eric Adams declared a authorities of exigency past period arsenic shelters overflowed ― the question of migration has collided with the region’s acute housing shortage.

Vega, of the Chelsea nonprofit, said lodging remains the top situation erstwhile it comes to accommodating the influx of migrants.

“We don’t person capable lodging for the radical who are already here,” Vega said, “never caput for the caller families that are arriving each week.”

Matt Stout of the Globe unit contributed to this report.

Mike Damiano tin beryllium reached astatine mike.damiano@globe.com.