Northeast
Massachusetts migrants taking shelter beds from taxpayers, allowed in with no vetting: former director
A former migrant shelter director in Massachusetts described the chaos he saw under the state’s right-to-shelter laws, saying that the influx of illegal immigrants has clogged the state’s infrastructure and that there is virtually no vetting for the surge of border crossers.
Massachusetts spent nearly $1.1 billion of taxpayers’ money this fiscal year to house and feed migrants streaming into the state, often in hotels that have been converted to shelters. However, taxpayers have at times found themselves boxed out of shelters as immigrants have crowded the system and taken priority, said Jon Fetherston, who acted as a migrant shelter director at the Marlborough Holiday Inn between November 2023 and July of last year.
Under its right-to-shelter law, established in 1983, the state must provide housing for displaced families and pregnant women. In 2023, the state’s shelters reached their capacity of 7,500 enrolled families – yet migrants continue to use Massachusetts’ programs.
Fetherston previously detailed the repeated violent incidents and mistreatment of children he saw during his tenure – and decried a lack of consequences for their perpetrators.
CHILD RAPE AND VIOLENT INCIDENTS REPORTED AT MASSACHUSETTS MIGRANT SHELTERS, FORMER FACILITY DIRECTOR SAYS
Illegal immigrants line the floors of a terminal at Boston Logan Airport as Massachusetts’ shelters are overrun. (WBZ)
In light of a man from the Dominican Republic, who was accused of possessing an AR-15 and $1 million worth of fentanyl in a state-subsidized room last month in Revere, Fetherston explained the vetting process – or lack thereof – in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, 28, was arrested on Dec. 27 after his girlfriend called Revere police to report that he had drugs and a long, black gun hidden under a pink suitcase in their hotel room. The woman told police that she had been living at the Quality Inn for three months and that she and Sanchez had obtained the room through a refugee program.
“I worked in that shelter for a very limited time,” Fetherston told Fox News Digital. “You can’t hide an AR-15 in that room. You cannot hide drugs in that room. The rooms are not big… the case manager there should have been standing up… there should have been red flags… to say ‘Hey, listen, this guy’s not attending those meetings. This guy is blowing off housekeeping.’”
DEM MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR NOW WANTS TO LIMIT ILLEGALS IN CRIME-RIDDEN MIGRANT SHELTERS
Meshach Little of Northill Wilkston Security Firm walks the perimeter of the main living area at the state’s emergency overflow shelter for migrants at the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Fetherston said that the incident was just another example of a lack of security and vetting at the state’s strained migrant facilities.
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which oversees the state’s shelter program, told Fox News Digital that it has security guards at every facility and conducts warrant checks every 30 days. However, Fetherston did not see that activity during his tenure.
“I will tell you that all the shelters that I’ve either worked in and volunteered [at] do have a form of security. But… it’s really basically somebody sitting at the desk – no better than you would have in a corporate office park… it’s certainly not the level of security that you need in these shelters… I never saw anybody come in and do a warrant check.”
Staff at the shelters were primarily chosen because of the languages they spoke rather than any kind of experience, he said.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH $1M WORTH OF DRUGS, GUNS GIVEN FREE HOUSING COURTESY OF BLUE STATE TAXPAYERS: OFFICIALS
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, right, visit the Melnea A. Cass Recreational Complex, which was being used to house more than 300 immigrants. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“You hire people just because they can speak the language that you need, being either Haitian or, you know, Portuguese or Spanish. So you’re not necessarily hiring a qualified caseworker or mental health advocate or somebody who’s been experienced in navigating these things, because those people don’t exist,” he said.
“A lot of times… the case managers became sympathetic to their fellow countrymen when they taught them how to navigate the system and not always in the most ethical ways. And that’s where the chaos came down.”
Meanwhile, he said, there was “a tremendous amount of domestic violence… a tremendous amount of violence towards children [and] a tremendous amount of violence towards other countrymen.”
Fetherston said residents’ alleged friends and relatives would constantly cycle through the facility where he worked. Despite policies about residents coming through security, staffing was stretched so thin that actually keeping track of who was coming in and out was near impossible.
ICE ARRESTS 3 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN MASS.: 2 CHARGED WITH CHILD RAPE, 1 CONVICTED OF SAME CRIME IN BRAZIL
Pictured are items allegedly found in Leonardo Andujar Sanchez’s possession when he was arrested at a Revere, Massachusetts, migrant shelter on Dec. 27. (ERO Boston)
“[The Revere arrest] touch[es] the hot point [for me] from day three, maybe, of me being in the shelter,” Fetherston said. “‘Who’s that?… I didn’t check them in. I didn’t see them when they came in. Who were they?… How did this guy get past?’ ‘Well, that’s so-and-so’s uncle.’”
Oftentimes, he said, families would “disappear” – housekeeping would report that a family had not been in their room for three or four days. He would get calls about residents showing up at the facility, and they would never arrive, or a person whose ID did not match at all would show up.
Since a ruling handed down by the Supreme Court in November of last year, after Fetherston left the shelter, shelters are not allowed to ask families for identification or documents when they are applying for its short-term shelter program.
This distinction, he said, makes Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s recent call to further vet emergency shelter residents to ensure that they are in the U.S. legally, with rare exceptions, impossible.
“I believe these changes are appropriate and needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the state shelter system in a way that aligns with the original intent of the law,” Healey said in a statement. “In addition, these proposed changes will allow us to continue to ensure the safety of our system, support cities and towns in addressing the needs of unhoused families in their communities and put us on the path toward a more fiscally sustainable shelter system.”
“She can say she will increase vetting, but how do you vet someone who has no ID? She also wants migrants to self-identify if they have committed crimes in the past – that’s not going to happen,” Fetherston said.
DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE ‘EVERY TOOL’ TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey held a press conference announcing significant action related to the state’s emergency shelter system. (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“She is saying this now, in an attempt to get [this] out of the news, and then have someone to blame when the reform doesn’t happen,” Fetherston said.
Healey’s office could not be reached for comment at press time.
Fetherston said he has had to turn away American citizens who had fallen on hard times amid the chaos at the state’s migrant shelters.
“I would have veterans walk up to the shelter, [saying] ‘I am a Vietnam veteran, I just need a room for tonight.’ And I would say, ‘I’m sorry. This is for migrants. All the public is not allowed. This is for migrants only,’” he recalled.
“I wasn’t always able to find, you know, a homeless veteran a place on a cold night. But we’ve got migrants,” he continued. “And once again, I don’t blame them living in a shelter where everything’s free for three free meals, free dry cleaning, free Ubers, has a roof over your head, free health care. And I’m sending a decorated veteran out into the cold. At least half a dozen times I had to do that.”
He also said that, although there are technically limitations to how long one can stay in the state’s shelters, they are not always enforced, and spots for citizens in need are not made available.
“You can’t blame the people who stepped up and tried to do their job. You have to blame the system and the person running the system for not putting checks and balances,” Fetherston said. “The governor had no plan and she just wanted to get these shelters open… Nobody specializes in this – Massachusetts is the only state in the entire nation that has the right to shelter. So it’s fair to say, well, they didn’t have qualified people. Well, nobody’s qualified for this because nobody’s ever had to experience this.”
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In a statement responding to the inclusion of Montgomery County Maryland on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions in the U.S., County Executive Marc Elrich accused the Trump administration of seeking to criminalize immigrants and “create fear.”
President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for a list of sanctuary jurisdictions. DHS issued the list on Thursday, the department noted in a post on X.
“We are not in violation of federal law, and we will not be making changes based on political headlines. Montgomery County has always cooperated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in cases involving violent crimes, serious felonies, and threats to public safety. That has been and remains our policy,” Elrich said in his statement.
LEADERSHIP SHAKE-UP COMING AT ICE, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS, SOURCES SAY
Left: President Donald J. Trump participates in an arrival ceremony at the Amiri Diwan, the official workplace of the emir, on May 14, 2025, in Doha, Qatar; Right: Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich during the Montgomery County Executive and 20th County Council Inaugural Ceremony at The Music Center at Strathmore on Dec. 5, 2022 in Bethesda, Md. (Left: Win McNamee/Getty Images; Right: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“This designation, like many other actions taken by this administration, is about criminalizing immigrants, not protecting public safety. We will not be complicit in efforts to stigmatize or target our immigrant communities,” the Democrat declared. “These types of announcements are designed to create fear. But we do not govern by fear in Montgomery County. We govern by the law and by our values.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of an MS-13 member in a press release earlier this month, noting multiple instances of the Montgomery County Detention Center failing to honor immigration detainers for the individual over the years, including just last month.
“The Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville convicted Amaya of attempted motor vehicle theft April 4, and sentenced him to three years of confinement with two years, five months and 11 days suspended,” the release noted of Salvadoran national Nelson Vladimir Amaya-Benitez. “On April 18, the Montgomery County Detention Center again declined to honor ICE’s immigration detainer and released Amaya from custody.”
POLK COUNTY SHERIFF GRADY JUDD NAMES OBSTACLES IN DETAINING MIGRANTS UNDER TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES
Montgomery County Department of Correction and Rehabilitation Director Ben Stevenson acknowledged the “error.”
“This individual met the criteria we use to notify and coordinate with ICE due to a prior felony conviction and validated gang membership in the DOCR records. We failed to make this notification. We take full responsibility for this error,” he said in a statement. “Montgomery County has stated consistently that we cooperate with ICE in cases involving individuals convicted of violent crimes, verified gang members, drug distributors & traffickers and other felony convictions. That policy remains in place.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SETS NEW GOAL OF 3,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS DAILY
Elrich said during a media briefing that “we goofed on our part. We did not make a policy decision to let this person go.”
The Trump administration has been aiming to crackdown on illegal immigration and is seeking to remove many individuals from the country after massive numbers of people flowed across the U.S. border during President Joe Biden’s administration.
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Boston, MA
Opening statements expected in trial of Irish firefighter charged with raping woman at Boston hotel – The Boston Globe
Superior Court Judge Sarah W. Ellis is presiding.
Seven jurors were chosen on Friday, and on Monday, several more were seated for a total of 15. Opening statements are set to follow later Monday, officials said.
Crosbie is accused of raping a woman while she slept in March 2024, when he was in Boston to participate in St. Patrick’s Day parade with fellow members of the Dublin Fire Brigade.
Crosbie was originally scheduled to leave the United States after the parade on March 19, officials have said. But after Crosbie spoke with police on March 15, he went to Logan International Airport for a 10:10 p.m. flight bound for Ireland, officials said.
He boarded an earlier flight at 7 p.m., but was pulled off the airplane by State Police and arrested, officials said.
Prosecutors allege that Crosbie raped a “female stranger” at the Omni Parker House hotel in downtown Boston on March 14, 2024.
The woman, 28, had gone to dinner with coworkers at The Black Rose, a pub near Faneuil Hall, and met a man, Liam O’Brien, along with his fellow Irish firefighters, according to prosecutors and court records.
The woman told police on March 15 that she agreed to return to O’Brien’s room, which he was sharing with Crosbie, at the Omni Parker House.
Video shows that around 11:30 p.m., the woman left a restaurant with O’Brien and returned to the room, prosecutors said.
The pair had a consensual encounter in the room, according to prosecutors. O’Brien then fell asleep on one of two beds in the hotel room, and the woman went to sleep on the other bed, prosecutors said.
Crosbie left the hotel at 11:55 p.m., according to hotel security video, and swiped his key card back into the room at 1:55 a.m., prosecutors said. At some point in the night, the woman woke up as Crosbie was allegedly raping her, according to a police report.
The woman “tried to push the male off” and she said “What are you doing? Stop!” the report said. Crosbie said “this guy is sleeping, I know you want this. He fell asleep,” the woman told police.
The woman left at 2:15 a.m., 20 minutes after Crosbie entered the room, prosecutors said. She messaged a friend to say she had been assaulted and went to a hospital, where she spoke with police.
At a hearing in August, prosecutors requested a DNA swab from Crosbie for “comparative testing” A genital swab from the woman revealed male DNA, prosecutors said in court documents.
“In this case, a known DNA sample from the defendant will produce evidence relevant to the question of his guilt,” Assistant District Attorney Erin Murphy, chief of the domestic violence and sexual assault unit, wrote in court papers.
Crosbie objected to providing a sample on grounds of unreasonable searches and seizures, court filings show.
“My client is not concerned about what the DNA is going to return or say,” Reilly said at the time. “He is adamant that he had no physical contact with her.”
The status of the DNA testing wasn’t immediately clear on Monday.
Material from previous Globe articles was used in this report.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers will continue their fight against their divisional rivals this coming season, but will now boast a quarterback that will be mostly unfamiliar to the rest of the division.
Now that Aaron Rodgers has joined the Steelers, the rest of the division will have to prepare accordingly to face a future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback. The Bengals, Ravens and Browns have occasionally faced the incoming Steelers quarterback, but never on a regular basis due to his two prior teams being out of division.
Harbaugh spoke to the media during the Ravens OTAs, so he was asked about the move by the Steelers to mix it up at the quarterback position.
“I don’t really have a reaction, just respect. Respect for the Steelers. Respect for the team that they have, the coaches that they have,” Harbaugh said. “Obviously, we’ve always respected Aaron Rodgers. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. So we’ll have to go against a Hall of Fame quarterback with one of the premiere teams in league, and who happens to be our archrival. So we’ll be preparing for that.”
The Ravens and Steelers have gone through quite a tumultuous last couple seasons for the rivalry, as neither team has been able to establish themselves as the true better team when facing each other. The Steelers came away with the season sweep in 2023, but split the regular season series for 2024 before being knocked out by the Ravens in the Wild Card Round in a 28-14 loss.
The Ravens look like they will be the better team when this coming season begins, but prior games and the team on paper mean little when it comes to rivalry games. The Steelers will not play the Ravens until Week 14, so it will be clear the skill that Rodgers has by that point in the season.
Make sure to bookmark Steelers On SI to get all your daily Pittsburgh Steelers news, interviews, breakdowns and more!
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