“Battenfeld: Charlie Baker quietly sends migrants to Methuen hotel with no warning” (Boston Herald):
the Baker administration quietly bused scores of immigrant families to a questionable Methuen hotel last Friday without even telling local authorities.
The lack of transparency is shocking enough but what about the ethics of sending these hungry and confused immigrants, including more than 100 children, to a hotel without any initial support.
“Eight days later, there’s still no concrete plan on how to deal with it,” said Methuen Mayor Neil Perry after meeting with the state Department of Housing and Community Development on Thursday. “They didn’t even present, you know, how many of these school-aged children are what age, whether they would be going to Methuen (schools) or not.”
The state is providing no public explanation for why the migrants were sent to the Methuen motel, bypassing motels and hotels in more affluent areas like Andover and North Andover. It’s unclear whether the families and children are here legally or illegally.
“All families in the shelter program receive services through local service providers, including three meals a day, assistance with housing search, case management work, and DCHD is working closely with other state agencies, local entities, and service providers to address the needs of the families that are currently housed in Methuen,” a DCHD statement said.
The migrants are from Haiti, Colombia and Venezuela, according to Perry, and some came from outside Massachusetts.
Now they’re Methuen’s problem. Well done, Charlie.
Baker was among those who questioned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for sending dozens of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last month.
“Sending people all over the country, many of whom have no idea why they’re being sent where they’re going, isn’t a solution to the very screwed up immigration system we have in the U.S.” Baker said.
Now Baker has essentially done the same thing DeSantis did, providing no warning or explanation to Methuen officials and no plan for assimilating the migrants into schools and housing. The hotel the migrants are staying in is known for having safety issues, according to local officials.
“If the plan is to find them housing in the Methuen community, I have to respectfully push back,” Mayor Perry said. “Not that I don’t want them to have housing, I have housing needs of my own community today I’m not satisfying.”
It’s the last line that I find interesting. The guy who runs Methuen is a Massachusetts Democrat and, therefore, presumably as welcoming to migrants as anyone in the U.S. And in fact he says that he wants migrants to have housing… but not in his city. Where exactly are the next few million migrants going to live then?
Would it be a solution to have a migrant exchange? Cities could start with a common quota but could outbid each other to have zero migrants. Atherton for example could easily bid $20 billion.
It would be highly instructive to see which areas put the highest value on migrant-free cities.
what happens if every city forwards the migrants on to a neighboring city. Will the migrants be stuck in endless loop around the country ? Like a game of Not It.
I figure the Democrat solution to the migration crisis is to destroy US economy to bring down American living standards to those of a typical third world country. Then there won’t be any reason to go to America. Winning!
Migrants welcome, just not here.