Hundreds of families with young children have cramped up at Boston’s Logan Airport since last week as the state grapples to contain the continuing surge of migrants in the state. According to reports, Boston’s shelter system has already reached its capacity since November and authorities have been calling out to the federal government for aid.
In footage shared with CBS News, rows of people are seen sleeping on the floor. One Boston woman collects hygiene products to donate to the families.
Massachusetts reported that they have been sheltering 7,500 families in its system since November. Some migrants are housed in hospital waiting rooms and church halls.
Last year, Massport Interim CEO Ed Freni said, “We have to emphasize that Logan is not an appropriate place to house people.”
Freni added, that these families have been housed in the airport even before the state’s emergency shelter system hit its limit last week.
“They’re paying passengers. They come in off airplanes from all different regions. We’ve been seeing about 20-25 a day,” Freni noted.
On Monday, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) once again sounded the alarm and demanded the Biden administration to do more help.
“We need D.C. to act. We need Congress to act,” cried Healey.
‘The path is there in terms of what needs to be done to fix the border situation, to fix some of the asylum processes, and to get much-needed funding to some of the interior states who have had to shoulder the burden for a problem that is geopolitical and is not the state’s making.’
The Boston government called for an additional $250 million in funds to address the crisis.
Logan airport CEO earlier remarked that the situation at the airport was “not sustainable.”
Gov. Healey was one of the nine governors who sought help from the Biden administration and congressional leaders.
In a letter, the group said: “With ongoing conflicts around the world, global migration is at a historic high. States and cities cannot indefinitely respond to the subsequent strain on state and local resources without Congressional action. Communities along the southern border — as well as interior states and cities across the country — lack the vast coordinated infrastructure needed to respond to the humanitarian and public safety concerns of those seeking lawful entry into the United States,”
The shelter state governors demand the federal government to provide $106 billion in supplemental funding to address the migrant crisis.
Since October, Chicago has been keeping hundreds of migrants at O’Hare International Airport.
