Local news

Migrants are forced back onto the streets near the Wollaston MBTA station.

Dozens of migrants are reportedly sleeping outside the Wollaston MBTA station in Quincy while supporters work to help the families achieve stable living conditions.

Thousands of Haitians have fled their homeland because of the continuing high levels of gang violence there. Many are eventually trying to reach Massachusetts, despite repeated warnings from authorities that there are no spaces available in the state’s reception system.

Families have gathered outside the Wollaston station, which serves the Red Line in Quincy, in part because of its proximity to a state-run “welcome center” on the campus of Eastern Nazarene College. These centers are open during the day to provide services and connect migrants with housing options.

About 50 migrants, mostly from Haiti, slept outside the station earlier this week, WHDH and WCVB reported. The Boston Immigrant Justice Accompaniment Network had used grants from United Way to pay for hotel rooms for the migrants, but those funds ran out and the families had to move back outside.

The emergency accommodation system has been at or near capacity for months, with those on the waiting list being told to seek a bed in “transitional accommodation”. But earlier this month the Healey government introduced new rules limiting the time families can spend in the emergency accommodation to five days, unless they are granted a special extension.

A Healey spokesperson told WCVB that the administration has asked volunteers working with these migrants to bring them to welcome centers so they can be directed to overflow shelters.

To help the families remaining outside Wollaston Station, volunteers worked with a nearby church to secure space for them to camp on its property. Two days later, Quincy officials told the families they were not allowed to camp at the church, citing “complaints from the neighborhood” about “unsanitary and potentially dangerous activities.” Many were subsequently sent back to the T-Station.

BIJAN officials are urging Governor Maura Healey to use emergency funds to finance the construction of new shelters.

“I think she has the power to make a change. Even though the blame can be placed on many systems and levels of government, I hope she does something because I believe she can be the one to get these families off the streets,” Rev. Annie Gonzalez of BIJAN told WHDH.

The government is also under new pressure from the state’s Republican Party. On Tuesday, Massachusetts GOP officials announced that Chair Amy Carnevale had submitted formal requests for information to the state on 600 public safety-related incidents.

The requests seek information about how nearly a billion dollars was spent. Carnevale accused the Healey government of withholding “critical information” about incidents involving police officers, firefighters and paramedics.

“Today, the Massachusetts Republican Party stands against the veil of secrecy and obstructionist efforts of the Healey-Driscoll administration and the Democratic supermajority. We stand with the Massachusetts press and declare: Enough is enough. The public has a right to transparency. Disclose details of the vendors profiting from this crisis and the public safety issues affecting our communities,” Carnevale said in a statement. “On behalf of the people of Massachusetts, we demand accountability.”