Dozens of migrants who have been sleeping on the floors of Boston's Logan International Airport are now facing eviction as a new state rule goes into effect this week.
Before Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced last month that migrants must vacate the airport, nearly 300 migrants were using Terminal E as a makeshift shelter with improvised beds and inflatable mattresses. That number, however, dwindled to 56 as of Monday.
"From the beginning, we've never thought that Logan was an appropriate place to be staying overnight," Healey said.
According to Fox News, the state has repurposed the Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk to accommodate the migrants once they vacate the airport. A former minimum-security facility, Bay State can accommodate up to 140 migrants and homeless families (approximately 450 people) and is located on the grounds of Massachusetts Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison
Other families are being transferred to new "safety-net" sites, according to a statement from the Healey administration.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu chimed in on the situation, as reported by WCVB:
"The governor and her team have been working incredibly hard on identifying the locations for shelter space and they've even opened up more. This is a federal challenge that is being pushed down to the cities and states that are considered more welcoming than others, and so, it has been a real struggle and strained a lot of resources at the city level too across the commonwealth."
The Healey administration is also in the process of implementing a nine-month stay limit in the Emergency Assistance shelter system, as there are currently About 700 families on the state shelter waitlist.
"With this progress, the recent opening of a new safety-net site in Norfolk and the new nine-month length of stay policy, we are now in a position to end the practice of families staying overnight in the airport. This is in the best interest of families and travelers and staff at Logan, as the airport is not an appropriate place for people to seek shelter," Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice said in a statement.
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