While Americans across the country are feeling the negative impact of President Joe Biden’s notorious “open border” policies, Massachusetts residents have even more reason to be upset about the waves of illegals crossing the border.
Taxpayers in the Bay State are expected to be out of a collective $1.8 billion during the next two years thanks to the immigration crisis, a new report has revealed. The July 24 document was published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), which described the potentially devastating impact of migration on Massachusetts as a “fiscal time bomb.”
Specifically, taxpayers in that state are funding temporary housing and migrant shelters at incredibly high rates. But the program’s policy studies director, Jessica Vaughan, noted in the report that the price of housing for immigrants “pales in comparison” to how much money Massachusetts residents will spend in the future to maintain the shelters “long term.”
Taxpayer dollars are also being used to pay for migrant education, healthcare, public safety, and social services. And as if citizens needed more to be frustrated about, the state of Massachusetts provides welfare assistance through programs like Medicaid, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) initiatives, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—all of which are technically not supposed to be accessed by immigrants, per federal law.
Although $1 billion has already been spent by the state Emergency Assistance housing program, an additional $1.8 billion is expected to be spent during the next two years. According to estimates from the report, there are around 355,000 “illegal and inadmissible” migrants currently residing in Massachusetts. Since 2021, 50,000 more have settled in the state.
The stark report came one week after Democratic Gov. Maura Healey announced that the Bay State is “out of shelter space,” adding that they “simply cannot afford” to keep housing illegal immigrants. Along with her statement came an administration effort to curtail the number of individuals being served at the overrun shelters.
Effective on August 1, the new regulations prioritize housing families who are victims of “unusual circumstances” such as fires or floods as well as those who are homeless due to no-fault evictions. Additionally, those who do not fall into prioritized categories are only permitted to stay at overflow locations for five days.
