Thread: Framingham reports about 40 Haitian migrants are staying in a city hotel

Framingham reports about 40 Haitian migrants are staying in a city hotel



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Jesse Collings, The MetroWest Daily News
Tue, August 1, 2023 at 5:21 AM EDT



FRAMINGHAM — City officials have confirmed that Framingham is the latest Massachusetts municipality to host asylum-seeking refugees, as about 40 of them were moved into the Red Roof lnn on Cochituate Road (Route 30) starting last Friday.

The asylum-seekers are ethnically Haitian, although many have come from other countries, including Chile and Brazil, according to state Rep. Priscila Sousa, D-Framingham.

Massachusetts has seen a rise in Haitian immigration over the last year due to growing instability and gang violence in the Caribbean country.

Families have been leaving the country with few resources and many end up in the Bay State, which has the third largest Haitian population in the U.S., trailing only Florida and New York.

Framingham officials announced over the weekend that about 40 asylum-seeking refugees were moved into the city. It was later learned that they're being housed at the Red Roof Inn on Cochituate Road.

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"I want to thank all the many volunteers who stepped up over the weekend providing services to these asylum seekers from Haiti,” Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said in a press release.

Massachusetts is the only state in the country with what's often called "right to shelter" laws. Those laws say the state is obligated to provide housing for homeless families with at least one child under the age of 21.

But with more homeless migrants pouring into the state, the state has little emergency housing to handle the demand. This leads to families being moved into hotels, which are paid for by the state.

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But even that strategy has its limits. On Monday, state officials opened a second "family welcome center" in Quincy, as makeshift hotels and motels being used as emergency shelters continue to fill up. The first such center was opened in June, in Allston.

In the press release from the Mayor's Office, city officials noted that over the past weekend, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and other members of the Healey administration have been communicating with them about the ongoing placement of families in Framingham.

About 40 migrant refugees were recently moved into the Red Roof Inn on Cochituate Road in Framingham, July 31, 2023.

The city stated that services for families that have arrived in Framingham are being provided by Jewish Family Service of MetroWest, a local nonprofit that provides social, health and community services.

Neither a call nor an email sent to the agency requesting comment on Monday was returned by the end of the day.

Sisitsky said that while he appreciates that many people have reached out to volunteer support, the city is waiting a few days to assess the needs of the migrant families.

"I appreciate everybody’s desire to help, but at this time we are asking the public to wait at least a day until we can finish assessing the needs of these families," the mayor said. "We know a lot of people want to donate items and offer support, but we are not ready to accept donations from the community yet."

Officials scrambling to find solutions

Sousa said she was originally made aware that migrants were going to be placed in Framingham via email last week.

"We were told that these migrants were here, but no arrangements had been made in terms of things like how to feed them," Sousa said. "Luckily, Framingham is very resource rich, and we were able to spring together to get the resources from point A to point B, and elected officials jumped in. But it's very challenging to have the conversations with the state where they basically tell us this is all they can offer right now."

Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant recently told the Daily News that in addition to having to provide space, local school districts would also potentially be required to provide added transportation and support services for migrant students, many of whom will be in an English Language Learners program.

State Rep. Priscila Sousa, D-Framingham, said she understands the state is overwhelmed by the demand to service refugees, "but what is frustrating is the lack of communication."

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"There are very few translators, and again, all communities are looking for the same things," said Vigeant, who said he was told that more than 60 migrant families were being housed in his city's hotels. "DESE (the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) needs to step up and give us some relief."

"I can understand that the state is overwhelmed by the demand, but what is frustrating is the lack of communication," Sousa added.

It's unclear how long migrants are expected to stay in Framingham, as the state tries to figure out more sustainable housing for them. Sousa said she had heard that either Monday or Wednesday of this week were potential moving dates for the Framingham group, but also noted that there are migrants who have been at the Best Western in Concord since March.

"I find it hard to believe that they still won't be there on Thursday," Sousa said.
Framingham Public Schools still determining best course of action

Sousa, also a member of the Framingham School Committee, said Superintendent of Schools Robert Tremblay has been made aware of the number of children who have been moved into the city.

Tremblay is currently in Brazil, doing a monthlong residence program at a school in Minas Gerais. Sousa said given the uncertain timeline of when immigrants will be re-situated, the School Department is still determining its best course of action for potentially educating new immigrant students.

Sousa, who immigrated to Massachusetts from Brazil as a child, has helped translate for some of the Haitian migrants, many of whom speak Spanish or Portuguese due to living in countries that speak those languages.

The legislator said that in providing services and support for migrants, it's important to focus on continued support for a population that is making major adjustments.

"It's easy to work together when everyone is in problem-solving mode and is focused on what needs to be done," she said. "You don't want to forget that these are people who are suffering. I was an immigrant myself, I remember how it felt for me, and I was in nowhere near such a transitional situation as this, where we never knew what was next."

State costs related to the current crisis are stacking up. In March, Gov. Maura Healey signed off on a supplemental budget allocation of $85 million for emergency assistance. And the fiscal 2024 budget accord reached Sunday night includes $325 million for emergency assistance family shelters.

Forty-three hotels and motels throughout Massachusetts are being used as emergency shelters, a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities told the State House News Service on Monday. Eighty municipalities throughout the state are "hosting families" as part of the emergency assistance program, the official said.

There were 5,356 families in state-funded shelters as of Saturday, the official said, including 1,737 families in hotels and motels.

Material from the State House News Service was used in this report.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: About 40 asylum-seeking Haitian migrants living in Framingham hotel


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