Unlawful migrants without shelter in Boston were transferred from Logan Airport to Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood on Wednesday, sparking protests from residents.
The center reportedly hosted 75 individuals, mainly families, during the first night and has worked with local vendors to provide them with resources, per WCVB.
A video posted on social media by Collin Rugg shows a man yelling at Boston police officers outside his local recreation center. However, it is unclear if the incident occurred outside Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex.
Community resident Shawn Nelson voiced his concern about moving the unlawful migrants to Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex during a protest outside the center, where protesters were holding signs that said: “Close the Border Help Boston Kids First” and “Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley!”
“They are taking resources away from the black community. Why are they not in any other community but ours,” said Nelson, per WCVB.
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes stressed that the temporary housing is “a lot to ask,” saying that the community is “dealing with a lot that needs a lot of equity,” per WCVB.
Despite the recreation center purportedly having the capacity to host up to 400 people, Louis Elisa, a former regional director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, toured the center and said, in reality, it is much smaller.
“This place needs a lot more work for folks that are here. They can’t keep them too long,” said Elisa, per WCVB. “If they get past 100 to 150, they’re not going to have the space to move around.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said that city officials “really don’t have a choice” other than to move the unlawful migrants to the center, noting that “[f]amilies continue to come to this country, continue to come to Massachusetts.”
“I announced a couple of months ago that we have really reached capacity in terms of space, and so we have been managing a waitlist,” she said, per NBC 10 Boston.
Healey claimed the current situation was temporary, adding that the unlawful migrants staying in the shelter “will be out before June.”
“It’s important to have this site available to the community for activities come June,” she said, according to NBC 10.
Healey said that the state’s focus is on getting the unlawful migrants removed from the center before June.
