Amid an illegal immigration crisis so bad in Massachusetts that some have been sent to Logan International Airport in Boston, the absence of affluent communities on a newly released state list of communities slated to absorb the influx is raising some eyebrows.
Among the communities missing from Gov. Maura Healey’s list is Martha’s Vineyard, the ultra-liberal affluent Massachusetts resort island that made national headlines last year for shipping 49 Venezuelans away last year almost as soon as they arrived.
Also absent from the list are the Democrat-dominated Newton and Cambridge, even as both Boston suburbs are self-declared sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants.
“The only answer for this can be hypocrisy,” Republican state Rep. Peter Durant told The Epoch Times. “You advocate for more services for immigrants, but when the rubber meets the road, you don’t want anything to do with them.”
Mr. Durant filed a record request with Ms. Healey’s office on May 31 asking for the names of all the hotels and other facilities the state had secured for illegal immigrants around Massachusetts.
He also asked for the total cost to taxpayers of securing the hotels and how much money the Commonwealth was spending on other provisions such as meals, translators, and public safety for the illegal immigrants.
Ms. Healey’s office, which responded a month later, refused to disclose the information, claiming that the “Office of the Governor is not subject to the Massachusetts public records law.”
In his June 30 letter to Mr. Durant, Records Access Officer Jesse Boodoo instead discussed the state’s legal obligation under a program called “Emergency Assistance” (EA) to provide a “range of needs” to illegal immigrants.
“The uptick in newly arrived families coupled with challenging housing market conditions in the Commonwealth, among other factors, have resulted in a sizable increase in families seeking shelter in the (EA) program,” Mr. Boodoo wrote.
“As a consequence of this, the shelter system is strained, and we are struggling to not only find physical shelter space but also shelter providers capable of efficiently and effectively connecting families with the robust services necessary for child and family health and well-being and long-term stability.”
The state is currently providing housing for 3,853 illegal immigrants from 1,245 families, according to Mr. Boodoo. In his letter, he named 28 towns where that housing is located. They included mostly working- and middle-class towns such as Norwood, Taunton, Saugus, Revere, West Springfield, Worcester, Methuen, Norton, Chelsea, Woburn, and Kingston.
Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr poked fun at the inclusion of the affluent and historic town of Concord on the list.
“What the hell is the People’s Republic of Concord doing on that list? Why is poor Concord being lumped in with all the mega-MAGA towns?” Mr. Carr wrote in his July 12 column. Concord is the birthplace of the American Revolutionary War. Like Chelsea, it’s a self-declared sanctuary city.
While none of the towns on the list are overly conservative, most had at least 30 percent of its population vote Republican, which is high for one of the most liberal areas in the United States.
William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, a North Carolina-based PAC that advocates against illegal immigration, told The Epoch Times that Massachusetts has become so well-known as a place that caters to illegal immigrants that the state is specifically named in flyers distributed by cartels and coyotes in foreign countries where they promote their smuggling services into the United States.
He pointed to a recent study released by the American Heritage Foundation, showing that 71 percent of illegal immigrants are being sent to Republican congressional districts.
The study, featured recently on Epoch TV’s “Facts Matter,” also showed that in some Republican states such as Texas, Latinos have become a majority of the resident population.
Mr. Gheen said that the way the U.S. government treats illegal immigrants shows that, in many ways, affluent Americans and foreign cartels operate and think alike.
“Both want a population that won’t resist their power and influence. In America, the illegal immigrant population is a lot more controllable and governable than American citizens by offering them everything they need at the expense of American taxpayers,” Mr. Gheen said. “On the other side of the wall, if you are dealing with criminals, you don’t mess with anybody who’s connected to those families, because you get knocked out of existence.”
Also not on Ms. Healey’s list are any of the state’s 10 wealthiest communities, which include Dover, Wellesley, Weston, Carlisle, and Lexington, which is adjacent to Concord. The Cape’s other wealthy island, Nantucket, is also absent along with most of the Cape. Only the town of Plymouth is included.
Last year, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew dozens of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, which designated itself a sanctuary destination during the Trump administration, island officials claimed that he did so because they had no place to house them and no jobs to offer them.
As reported by The Epoch Times, however, the island’s newspaper was filled with ads touting entry-level jobs, and other media outlets reported several Airbnb vacancies on the island at the time.
The Martha’s Vineyard Commission, which governs the island, didn’t respond to recent inquiries from The Epoch Times about any efforts to help with the influx of illegal immigrants into the state.
A review of the Martha’s Vineyard Hostel shows several vacancies for the remainder of July and August, and various sites show several job openings for various positions on the island, including dishwasher, laundry attendant, farm field hand, custodian, ticket seller, and meat cutter.
Mr. Durant says he’s disturbed by a rising trend of the U.S. government providing taxpayer-funded services to illegal immigrants as Americans increasingly struggle with rising housing, food, and fuel costs.
The program that Ms. Healey’s office cited in its response to Mr. Durant’s records request was created for the local homeless population, he said.
“They are now calling them homeless, but they are illegal immigrants,” he said. “Is that the direction we are going?”
According to the American Community Survey, an arm of the U.S. Census Bureau, homelessness has increased in just the past year in 27 states.
Meanwhile, illegal immigration into the United States remains at a record high. Last month, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz reported that his agency has seen a 1,000 percent increase in the number of illegal immigrants attempting to cross into the United States since last year.
Mr. Durant said Massachusetts residents should be concerned that Ms. Healey won’t release either the amount of taxpayer money being spent on illegal immigrants or the hotels and facilities where they are being housed.
Mr. Gheen said Massachusetts residents may also want to reconsider some of its illegal immigrant-friendly policies, including recently enacted legislation to give them driver’s licenses and in-state school tuition.
“Those are the gateways for states to become a Third World country in America,” he said.
Ms. Healey’s office, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, and the cities of Cambridge and Newton also didn’t respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times.
