BOSTON – Migrant families will soon be banned overnight at Logan Airport in Boston, Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts announced on Friday.
From July 9, it will be forbidden to sleep at the airport. Instead, migrants staying in Logan will be offered a transfer to a controversial new safety net site on a old prison in Norfolk. Logan staff will educate migrants about the new policy and help them get somewhere else “where they have family or another option for a safe place to say,” the state said.
For months, dozens of families spent the night at the airport, and sources told the WBZ I-Team that Massachusetts State Police get paid overtime to help them.
“Massachusetts is out of shelter space”
The new policy comes days after Healey sent representatives to the southern border in Texas to make the announcement Massachusetts shelters are full. The state’s emergency shelter system reach a capacity of 7,500 families in November.
Emergency Services Director Scott Rice, who traveled to the border earlier this week, said the Norfolk location and a new nine-month term for families in the emergency shelter system will allow the state to end airport overnight stays .
“This is in the best interest of families, travelers and staff at Logan, as the airport is not an appropriate place for people to seek shelter,” Rice said in a statement. “We continue to spread the word that Massachusetts is running out of shelter space and that if families are traveling to Massachusetts, they should be prepared with a plan for housing that does not include Logan Airport or our emergency shelter.”
