Jon Fetherston, the whistleblower who exposed the heinous crimes committed by illegal immigrants in Massachusetts’ “Healy Hotel” shelters, requested on Saturday that Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi initiate a federal investigation into the shelter program.
“I am writing to you not as a political figure, but as a whistleblower, a witness, and most importantly—as someone who cannot remain silent while criminality, negligence, and fraud continue unchecked under the banner of state-sponsored “humanitarian care,” Fetherston wrote in his letter to AG Bondi.
“What I experienced inside these shelters demands immediate federal intervention,” he stressed.
Fetherston previously managed a Holiday Inn in Marlborough, Mass., that had been converted into a taxpayer-funded illegal immigrant shelter as part of the state’s costly illegal immigrant housing program. It is often called the “Healey Hotel” program because it has been championed by Gov. Maura Healey (D-Mass.) and often uses re-purposed hotels to shelter illegal immigrants.
Last summer, Fetherston shared documents with The Maine Wire detailing the crimes committed by residents of the hotel, including the case of Ronald Joseph, a 43-year-old Haitian illegal immigrant who allegedly raped and impregnated his 14-year-old daughter multiple times.
Gov. Healey’s administration seemingly attempted to conceal Joseph’s case by transferring him to another shelter without making an arrest, until The Maine Wire brought the story to national attention with an exclusive report on the Marlborough shelter.
Nearly six months after The Maine Wire broke the story on Joseph and the Marlborough Hotel, the state released the serious incident reports for the “Healey Hotels,” showing that crime, vandalism, and domestic abuse are routine in these shelters across the state.
Fetherston is now calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the “criminal acts and gross mismanagement” surrounding Massachusetts’s emergency shelter program.
“This is about protecting women, children, and the integrity of our public systems. That’s why I’m appealing to the highest level of federal justice oversight. Secretary (sic) Bondi has the authority and independence to do what the Commonwealth has failed to: investigate these failures, hold people accountable, and protect those at risk,” said Fetherston in a statement provided to The Maine Wire.
In his letter to AG Bondi, Fetherston highlighted Joseph’s case and explained that his daughter is not the only girl who has faced sexual assault in shelters which did not have adequate measures in place to protect women and children from predators.
He also called for an investigation into the fraud allegedly committed by shelter operators, who are accused of deliberately overcounted the number of residents staying in their hotels to receive more taxpayer funds.
“Shelter operators were knowingly inflating rosters, double-counting residents, and reporting occupied units that were vacant—solely to increase state reimbursement. This is systemic fraud being committed with public funds, and no one is being held accountable,” he said.
His letter accuses the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of willfully neglecting public safety when deciding whom to admit to the shelters and actively obstructing immigration enforcement activities by refusing to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to Fetherston, family shelters routinely admitted illegal immigrants with active deportation orders or extensive criminal records because they did not require background checks before placing them.
Finally, Fetherston claimed in his letter that the state actively tried to silence and even retaliate against whistleblowers like him who tried to call out the gross mismanagement occurring in the shelter program.
“I faced retaliation, isolation, and professional consequences simply for telling the truth and trying to protect those in our care. This culture of cover-up is ongoing—and it is enabling more harm each day,” said Fetherston.
He has been ignored and stonewalled when trying to bring the issues to the attention of state authorities, which is why he has decided that the problem requires federal attention.
“This is not about partisanship. It is about protecting the vulnerable, upholding the law, and demanding accountability from a system that is failing at every level,” said Fetherston.
Just last month, Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio found evidence that the emergency shelter program was mismanaging contracts and unlawfully using no-bid emergency procurements for food and transportation for illegal immigrants.
One day before the damning auditor’s report was released, Gov. Healey announced that all 32 remaining shelters currently operating out of hotels across the state will be closing down this summer.
The shelters were previously set to close at the end of the year.
