Massachusetts’ migrant crisis is escalating this morning. A train stop in Quincy is becoming the temporary home of one group of migrants that have nowhere to go. One organization is doing all they can to help.
Migrant families in Massachusetts are facing a shelter crisis with many facilities filled up to or near maximum capacity.
The issue is only growing after migrants staying at Boston Logan International Airport were forced to leave last week.
That shelter crisis has led dozens of people to the Wollaston MBTA station in Quincy. Both migrant families and people struggling with homelessness have been sleeping there overnight.
Video shows there were dozens of people, including children, there on Tuesday with suitcases and nowhere to go.
Many of these families have been reportedly spending their days at the nearby Quincy Welcome Center, but the center closes in the early evening.
NBC10 Boston cameras captured a Quincy Welcome Center van dropping some people off Tuesday night.
That's where Gladys Vega with La Colaborativa in Chelsea has stepped in.
For at least three nights over the past week, she has sent her vans to pick up the people left there at the T station and given them food, a shower and a place to stay at their office overnight.
But she says this is only a temporary solution following Gov. Maura Healey’s decision to no longer allow migrant families to sleep at Logan overnight.
And the governor agrees.
"We need more funding from the federal government and Congress needs to act to give us that funding. In the meantime, I've also said we are full up in terms of capacity. We have gone above and beyond," said Healey.
"I'm not so much frustrated with the governor's office. I'm frustrated with the lack of planning that we've all been able to do," said Vega.
Vega says she hopes more community groups can step up to help find both immediate and long-term solutions to help these families.
"We are monitoring the situation closely and are in regular contact with both the college and the state on the process going forward," said Mayor Thomas Koch in a statement Wednesday.
