An influx of unlawful migrants led hotels to cancel reservations made for the weekend of the Army-Navy football game in Massachusetts, leaving some veterans with nowhere to stay.
At least 70 reservations were canceled in the greater Boston area for the weekend of December 9 by a single booking agent. The agent, Mark Mansbach, claimed a hotel management firm told him their hotels were being used to house migrants that have been flowing into the state.
“They were leasing out the hotels to the state of Massachusetts for refugees,” Mansbach said, according to CBS News WBZ.
Giri Hotel Management owns the hotels, said Mansbach. The company said they are committed “to providing shelter and support to refugees at our hotels.”
“As a gesture of solidarity and humanitarian responsibility, we are opening our doors to those seeking refuge in our community,” Giri Hotel Management said in a statement, per WBZ. “We look forward to working with local authorities and organizations to ensure a smooth transition for all those who will call our hotels home during their time with us.”
Mansbach said this is the first time he’s seen hotels cancel due to a migrant crisis.
“I have never had a hotel take rooms back and give me nothing. They sent out cancellations and walked away,” Mansbach told WBZ. “Some people … have decided not to go, and others found space in Boston. Some I have been able to put into other hotels that I had space left in.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she was working with the Office of Veteran Services to ensure hotels are available for the Army-Navy game.
“I am very distressed to learn that any veteran may have been moved from a hotel who had booked a hotel for that game,” Healey said, per WBZ. “As I understand it, those were decisions made by area hotels.”
The decision comes as unlawful migrant encounters at the southern border hit an all-time record of 260,000 in September, according to Fox News.
President Joe Biden claimed Thursday that border walls do not work — a statement that appears to be at odds with the opinion of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Just one day earlier, Mayokas said, “There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has sent multiple busloads of migrants to other parts of the country over the past 18 months. He visited New York City last month to discuss the busing operation, which he claimed raises awareness in other states about the issues Texas border towns have been dealing with.
“What you’re dealing with in New York, what you are seeing and witnessing in the state is a tiny fraction of what is happening every single day in the state of Texas,” Abbott said, per KXAN. The governor has sent nearly 16,000 immigrants to New York City and another 25,000 to other cities.
