Massachusetts

‘We'll do whatever it takes': Nonprofit helping shelter migrants who had to leave Logan

La Colaborativa, based in Chelsea, Massachusetts, has been picking up migrant families that were staying at the Wollaston MBTA stop in Quincy after they were required to stop sleeping at Logan Airport

NBC Universal, Inc.

A week after being required to leave Logan Airport, migrants who were staying there are trying to pick up the pieces.

After a July 9 deadline was imposed by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, people who were staying at Boston's airport amid a shelter crisis were forced to leave.

On one of the hottest days of the year, parents waited outside the Wollaston MBTA stop, wondering where they and their children will sleep.

A van from La Colaborativa, a Chelsea-based nonprofit, picked them up to bring them to a shelter.

"Ignoring this is not the solution, because this is the outcome of the solution," said Gladys Vega, who runs La Colaborativa.

She said the organization would house the families during this week's heat wave.

"We'll do whatever it takes," Vega said.

Migrant families have been at the Quincy Welcome Center. They are able to spend days there, but it closes early in the evening, and many ended up at Wollaston.

Tuesday was the third night in a row that La Colaborativa has picked up families at the train station. Nearly 50 people were picked up Tuesday.

"It's very difficult for all of us emotionally. It's draining for us," Vega said. "What we saw today, it's like, people that are completely with pretty much nothing, and they're going to spend the night in a train station."

She says La Colaborativa is making sure the families eat, shower and rest.

Since last September, Foxborough has welcomed 93 families for temporary accommodation in one of its hotels. Among these families, there are mostly Chileans and Haitians, a very unusual population in this town. We spoke to some of the younger members of these families about how they're settling into their new life. Follow NBC10 Boston on... Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

Vega says Healey has been put in a tough spot since migrant families started arriving in Massachusetts.

"We need more funding from the federal government, and Congress needs to act to give us that funding," Healey said Tuesday. "In the meantime, I've also said we are full up in terms of capacity. We have gone above and beyond."

"I'm not so much frustrated so much with the governor's office, I'm frustrated with the lack of planning that we have been all able to do," Vega said.

Healey says she is encouraging people to find friends and family they can stay with out of state, adding that travel costs will be covered.

Contact Us