Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey Approves $426 Million More to Welcome Migrants, Push Out Citizens; Massachusetts Kills Plan to Prioritize Homeless Veterans Over Migrants

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey Approves $426 Million More to Welcome Migrants, Push Out Citizens:

Massachusetts Democrat Gov. Maura Healey signed the state budget, which provides an additional $426 million for housing illegals even as the state ranks as one of the worst for citizens fleeing.

The Bay State is a sanctuary state with a “right to shelter” law that requires government to put homeless people into housing, at least for a period of time. The law has caused the state to spend hundreds of millions since President Joe Biden’s border crisis exploded:

The cost of housing migrants is expected to soar to one billion dollars in expenses by 2025.

According to analysis, there are one million immigrants in the state, with nearly 4,000 noncitizens granted asylum since 2023, CBS News reported.

CBS added that there are roughly 3,500 migrants in the state’s shelter system. And WBUR noted that the state has funded up to 14,000 migrants just from Haiti since 2022.

As migrants are pouring into the state, citizens are leaving. Indeed, Massachusetts ranks as one of the worst states for outward migration.

In January, United Van Lines released its annual list of migration based on rentals for its moving vans. The company reported that outgoing movers outnumbered those coming into the state, 56.6 percent to 3.4 percent. Massachusetts was seventh in the nation for citizens moving out. —>READ MORE HERE

Massachusetts Kills Plan to Prioritize Homeless Veterans Over Migrants:

All but two Massachusetts House Democrats voted against an amendment to provide statewide shelter priority to U.S. military veterans over migrants.

On Friday, all 25 Massachusetts state House Republicans were joined by two others across the aisle in voting for Amendment 698 as part of House Bill 4600. The amendment introduced by Republican Minority Leader Bradley Jones, titled “Homeless Veterans Prioritization for Shelter Assistance,” failed on a 27-129 roll call vote.

“It’s extremely disappointing that most Democrats were unwilling to support an amendment to prioritize eligibility for the state’s emergency housing assistance program for honorably discharged homeless veterans,” Jones told Newsweek via email on Monday.

The vote occurred one day after a supplemental budget was sent to Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who in October said that her state lacks the space, services and funding to safely expand beyond providing shelter for 7,500 families—of which that quota was nearly reached prior to Halloween amid a migrant surge to the Bay State. Massachusetts is spending about $75 million each month on state-run shelters, according to The Boston Globe, after Healey declared a state of emergency last summer.

Democratic state Rep. Gerard Cassidy, co-chair of the Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Affairs, reportedly said that a veterans-related bill is being prepared for May and will address programs and benefits extension.

“This is not a veterans’ bill,” Cassidy said, according to State House News Service (SHNS). “This is basically a political ploy to bring the veterans in. This bill that will be coming out is more in tune to what we’re doing.”

Newsweek reached out to Cassidy via email for comment.

Jones dismissed Cassidy’s characterization of his amendment as a “political ploy,” saying instead that it is “a recognition of the debt we all owe to our nation’s veterans and consistent with the many other veterans preferences that exist in our current laws.”

“No individual who has served their country with valor and dedication should ever be forced to sleep on the street with their family,” he said. “At a time when our emergency shelter system is being stretched beyond capacity and has a growing waitlist for services, we need to set clear priorities to better manage the demand and eliminate the waitlist. —>READ MORE HERE

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