The reception program that houses migrants has received more than 300 reports of “serious incidents” this year alone

More than 300 “serious” incidents have been reported at a shelter program housing migrants in Massachusetts this year alone.

Although the state's Emergency Assistance foster care program is not a migrant-only program, migrant families are eligible, and figures from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities are raising concerns.

Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, Jessica Vaughan, found that the total of 316 reports of serious incidents at “hotels, congregate sites, dispersed sites and co-shelters” in the program “very disturbing”.

“This is a large number of incidents,” he said Boston Herald“This is a huge failure and it's happening with huge amounts of taxpayer money.”

“It is clear that the state is not providing a safe environment for these migrants,” Vaughan added.

A serious incident, according to the Emergency assistance program, is described as “serious misconduct, threatening behavior, or actual harm involving or affecting an EA program or any member of the EA family. Serious incidents may involve perpetrators who are members of the EA family , program staff, external community members or anyone else.”

The Herald obtained the Bay State's “Serious Incident Report Tracking Data” through a public records request. The majority of incidents occurred in hotels which recorded 125 serious incidents. Congregation sites had 78, scattered sites had 72, and co-shelters had 22. As of the date of the Herald report, there were reportedly 7,400 families in the foster care program of Emergency Assistance.

“The safety and well-being of families in the Emergency Assistance program is a priority for the Administration,” an agency spokesman said. Fox News Digital.

“If an incident occurs at an EA shelter, HLC staff and service providers work with families to ensure their safety, security and well-being, including working with relevant authorities to resolve issues,” said the spokesman. “To be clear: serious incidents do not necessarily reflect misconduct or violations of shelter rules by shelter residents and may include any incident that occurs on a shelter site. Examples may include fire alarms or natural disasters, COVID-19 infections, unauthorized entry into a shelter by non-EA residents, and other incidents that result in significant disruption to the EA program.”

“It's worrying for the communities where these people have been placed, and it's worrying for other migrants who are in these shelters,” Vaughan told the Herald. “When you have an open-door policy at the border and a welcome mat in Massachusetts, you're asking for trouble.”

“They can't be sure they're identifying people who are going to cause problems when they get to their destinations,” Vaughan said of federal authorities along the border, adding that the state “is kicking somebody else ” to deal with referrals to homeless shelters.

“They should be reported to ICE and ICE should remove them,” Vaughan said.

Governor Maura Healey announced new restrictions and limits this week.

(Video credit WCVB 5)

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida, where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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