Kathy Lynch, Westford Resident
The illegal immigration situation has gotten out of hand. Gov. Maura Healey’s office reports shelling out $45 million a month to cover the cost of providing emergency shelter and resources to an influx of illegal immigrants in more than 80 communities. The influx is so large that she called upon 250 National Guard members to help.
Because of a Massachusetts “right to shelter” law, which requires migrants to be provided with immediate housing, Massachusetts shelters, hotels, motels, and schools are burdened across the state at taxpayer expense, with no end in sight!
Republicans, like myself, have been warning others about ill-conceived sanctuary policies for many years. Democrat-led sanctuary cities that ignore or limit enforcement of federal immigration law are fertile territory for illegal aliens. MA allows illegal aliens to get “free” shelter, food, healthcare, education, and driver’s licenses while removing safeguards that prevent non-citizens from registering to vote! All these benefits incentivize migration here.
Testimony from the Center for Immigration Studies shows that illegal immigration “adversely impacts the wages and employment of some American workers, particularly those with modest education levels. … Using large-scale illegal immigration to fill jobs may please employers, but it allows policymakers to ignore the decades-long decline in labor force participation that contributes to profound social problems, from crime and drug overdoses to welfare dependency and suicide.”
Not only has Gov. Healey declared a “state of emergency” for being burdened with an overflow of occupants in hotels, motels, and emergency shelters, but her Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll had the gall to ask MA residents to house them in their own homes! Are they leading by example by taking illegal aliens into their own homes? Perhaps all those who voted for them as well as the legislators who voted for the “right to shelter” law should take them into their own homes.
We need more voices speaking up now to show that the track we are on is unsustainable. Immigration should be fair, manageable, and legal. Where we stand now is far from that and will only get worse if we continue in this direction.
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