Massachusetts Former Prison to be Turned into Migrant Shelter

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) is turning a former correctional facility into a temporary shelter to house migrants.

On Friday, residents in Norfolk were informed that the state had plans to convert the Bay State Correctional Center into a “temporary emergency shelter” for migrants, a statement from Norfolk town administrator Justin Casanova-Davis said.

As of 2024, the population of the town of Norfolk was estimated to be 11,676 people.

“The Town was informed on Friday that the decommissioned Bay State Correctional Center has been designated as a temporary emergency shelter by the Healey Administration,” Casanova-Davis’s statement, issued on Monday, said.

Casanova-Davis’s statement continued to say that the decision from the Healey administration had been made as part of the state’s “ongoing response to the number of migrant families arriving in Massachusetts” and that the town “had no role” in making the decision:

By law Massachusetts is a “right to shelter” state. The state must provide adequate living spaces, clean and decent surroundings, pure air and water, sanitation, and other civic amenities to families, pregnant women, and migrant families in an attempt to reduce homelessness.

“Emergency shelters have opened in communities of all sizes across the state,” he continued.

My statement on the planned emergency family shelter site at the former Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk.#mapoli #NorfolkMA pic.twitter.com/bY9F3rWyLN

— Senator Becca Rausch (@BeccaRauschMA) May 13, 2024

Massachusetts State Sen. Becca Rausch (D) issued a statement in which she expressed concerns regarding “the impacts of an influx of more than 400 people” to a town with a population of roughly 11,500 people.

“I hope no one would want to see pregnant women, children, and families without shelter,” Rausch wrote in her statement. “At the same time, the impacts of an influx of more than 400 people, including many school-aged children, to a town with a population of only 11,500 must be managed carefully and responsibly.”

The announcement from the Healey administration comes more than a week after the Massachusetts governor signed the state’s budget, which provides an additional $426 million for housing undocumented migrants.

An analysis from the Immigration Learning Center found that there were around one million migrants living in Massachusetts.

Nearly 3,500 migrants were reported to be in the Massachusetts emergency shelter system as of December 2023. In 2023, almost 4,000 migrants were given asylum in the state, according to CBS News.

While Massachusetts deals with a surge of migrants, many citizens have begun fleeing. State records have shown that the state spends roughly $64 to feed each migrant each day and is on track to spend around one billion dollars by 2025.