Migrant Families Are Moving Into Massachusetts Homes Under a Voluntary Government Program

Multiple residents of Brookline, Mass., have volunteered for the state’s immigrant resettlement program, which begged residents to host illegal immigrant families as immigration shelters in the Commonwealth have reached maximum capacity.

One family of four migrants who arrived in the U.S. without authorization were delivered to the home of Colin and Jessica Stokes within an hour after they called to volunteer as hosts.

The Stokes were not given any say in who would be re-settled in their house, and knew “nothing” before the migrants were delivered to their door.

“I was like I have to get sheets on the beds. How many people are coming? Where are they from? What ages. We really knew nothing,” said Jessica Stokes.

The family, who did not want to be shown on camera, according to CBS, originally came from Chile, crossed the Texas border, and had been sleeping in the Logan International Airport terminal.

Despite being given no say in who they hosted, the Stokes were delighted with their situation.

“The family is lovely. They are so appreciative. It has been wonderful,” said Jessica Stokes.

It is unclear if the Stokes set a limit on how long the family will be allowed to stay, or if the stay will be indefinite. It’s also not clear what steps the Commonwealth may have taken to verify the identities and backgrounds of the Chilean nationals before placing them with the Stokes.

According to the CBS report, the two adult immigrants are “eager” to work but are waiting to receive work authorization forms, which will take weeks to process.

Although CBS did not report on the immigration status of the adults, work authorizations are typically issued to adult migrants who have applied for asylum six months after an application has been submitted.

Submitting an application for asylum allows an illegal alien to be paroled and receive work authorization; however, the work authorization does not confer legal permanent status as an asylee.

That can only be determined by immigration courts, which in recent years have experienced extreme delays in processing applications.

The result of that backlog is that asylum-seekers can exist in a sort of gray area for five years or more before learning whether their asylum claims have been improved.

Historically, the majority of asylum claims have been rejected. But when a claim is rejected, no enforcement action is taken against the individual.

Instead, they are expected to self-deport.

The two children have not yet been placed in school.

Lisa Hillenbrand, another Brookline resident, invited a family of three Haitian immigrants into her apartment.

Hillenbrand loves hosting the immigrants, and highlighted the fact that one of them, Wildande Joseph, loves to cook, which has made Hillenbrand feel as though she has a personal chef.

“Lisa says she feels like she has her own personal chef as Wildande loves cooking,” said an NBC reporter.

The Joseph family was also sleeping in the Logan airport before they moved in with Hillenbrand.

According to Hillenbrand, an impressive number of other Brookline residents have taken in immigrants, many of whom are thought to have arrived in the U.S. as part of the ongoing mass wave of illegal immigration over the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

The Massachusetts program to re-settle immigrants in people’s homes has garnered significant criticism from many different sources.

Elon Musk famously said, “They will come for your homes,” on X, after New York closed a school to fill it with migrants.

The new Massachusetts program, for the time being, remains voluntary.