Roughly 45 percent of Massachusetts residents support providing shelter to new migrants, according to a recent GBH News/CommonWealth Beacon poll, conducted by the MassINC Polling Group. That support fell from 55 percent over the last six months, as an influx of new arrivals have overwhelmed the state’s shelter system. To break down the findings and what they mean, Craig LeMoult is joined by GBH News reporter Sarah Betancourt, Republican State Senator Peter Durant, and Robin Nice, chair of the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQDKVFIDYb8
Apr162024
Robin Nice, chair of the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the drop in support for migrants in shelters is alarming. She believes residents who don’t want immigrants in shelters don’t understand the dire circumstances of families heading north.
“If you were to rephrase this question as, 'Would you do anything to keep your kids safe and to keep a roof over their head?' I would imagine that that result will be 100%,” she said. “Shift the conversation and think about what do we need and what do we all deserve as humans, regardless of where we may have been born?”
She said that in the short-term, the state can't have immigrant children sleeping at Logan Airport or on the streets.
“I think we have to recognize that it's an investment in terms of building the economy, building our workforce, building the people who will thrive in the education system, and be able to give back and be able to build and make the state and the country stronger,” she said.
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