Illegal migrants are now sheltering at international airports in two major cities, first Chicago and now Boston.
One terminal at Boston Logan International Airport has turned into a temporary shelter for nearly 100 migrants now that the city’s other shelters have reached capacity. Some families have been sleeping for weeks in Terminal E, where most international flights arrive.
Photos show families sleeping on the floor and on pallets, crowded by other people, blankets, and their belongings.
One woman collected hygiene items for the migrants, telling WBZ that the migrants, many of whom have young children, do not have access to a shower, so they are given wipes to clean themselves.
#NEW Dozens of migrants are sleeping on the floor of the International terminal of Logan Airport.
WBZ says that Massachusetts State Police are being paid overtime to assist at Logan overnight.
Volunteers helping the migrants are concerned of hygiene as no showers are… pic.twitter.com/ZHnlkx3N66
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) January 24, 2024
First, it was Chicago's airport housing illegal aliens.
Now, it’s Boston’s.
How long until this happens where you live?https://t.co/ZvqkBACuMw
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) January 23, 2024
Some migrants are also camping out in conference rooms at a transportation building in Boston. However, that space is only available at night.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat, capped the shelter system at 7,500 families in the fall despite Massachusetts’ right-to-shelter law. Now, 600 families are on a waitlist for shelter, her administration said.
Earlier this week, Healey and eight other Democratic governors wrote to the Biden administration and congressional leaders asking for more funds to handle the migrant crisis.
“We need D.C. to act. We need Congress to act,” Healey said Monday at a press conference.
Healey’s office estimates migrants will cost the state $915 million next year. She has asked the state legislature for another $250 million to address the crisis this year, but that funding has not yet been approved.
Massachusetts State Police officers are being paid overtime to patrol the area of the airport where migrants are staying, Healey said.
“The airport has been a wonderful partner and I really want to thank the folks at the airport who are doing a wonderful job including members of the state police who are working their regular shifts but who are managing the inflow and outflow of folks from the airport,” she said Monday.
Meanwhile, however, the CEO of the airport called the migrant situation “not sustainable” back in November.
“When they come to Logan we meet them and we try to assist them, but we have to emphasize that Logan is not an appropriate place to house people,” Massport interim CEO Ed Freni told reporters.
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Chicago has had hundreds of migrants sleep in O’Hare International as the city scrambles for more shelter space and builds more shelters.
The hundreds of recent arrivals, including babies and the elderly, lived in a shuttle bus center at the Chicago airport’s Terminal 1, where they slept on cardboard and used airport bathrooms.
Other major cities are grappling with an influx of thousands of migrants that has also overwhelmed their shelter systems, including New York City, which has seen more than 160,000 migrants arrive since spring 2022.