Massachusetts Response to its Migrant Crisis: Offer Even More Benefits

If any state in America proves the axiom that “things in motion stay in motion” it’s Massachusetts. What else but perpetual motion physics can explain the logic behind the Bay State’s non-stop granting of benefits to illegal aliens? Its latest scheme: free tuition at community colleges for all residents regardless of immigration status.

The bill which recently passed the Massachusetts Senate, but not yet the House, contains deceptive provisions that will provide cover to politicians facing blowback from constituents angry that taxpayer money will subsidize so-called “free” higher education for illegal aliens. The legislation cleverly excludes “nonimmigrant aliens” from the benefit. Note, however, that this classification does not refer to illegal aliens. Section 101(a)(15) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) specifies that nonimmigrants are foreign nationals admitted temporarily to the United States such as foreign government officials, temporary visitors for business and pleasure, aliens in transit, academic and vocational students, temporary workers, and others who have been screened and approved for entry.

In effect, the bill includes illegal aliens.

Then, doubling down on their subterfuge to placate wary citizens, Massachusetts politicians included language in the bill requiring applicants to “apply for citizenship or legal permanent residence in accordance with federal statute and federal regulations within 120 days of eligibility for such status.” This stipulation is absurd. As Jessica Vaughn of the Center for Immigration Studies reveals, “The requirement that recipients of free tuition promise that they will apply for citizenship or a green card as soon as they are eligible is intended to dupe people into thinking that the illegal immigrants who get the benefit are on a path to lawful status. This is nonsense and an empty promise; the reality is that most of these illegal immigrants have no path to legal status, whether they promise they will seek it or not. They should not receive taxpayer benefits until they do get legal status.”

The bill is simply the next step — and likely not the last — for Massachusetts because the reality is that over many years, the state has systematically put in place one of the most appealing welcome mats for illegal aliens in the county.

The city of Cambridge — home of the Harvard Elite — got the ball rolling 38 years ago when in 1985, it declared itself a sanctuary jurisdiction. In July 2017, Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling in Lunn v. Commonwealth which effectively made the entire state a sanctuary state. Local law enforcement officials no longer have the authority, under state law, to detain a person based solely on a request from federal immigration authorities.

Boston, the state’s largest city, took it a step further when in 2019 they enacted the so-called Trust Act mandating that city and law enforcement personnel and funds never be used to interrogate, detain or arrest a person solely for non-criminal immigration enforcement purposes. Police are also not allowed to share any personal information with ICE.

And in July of 2023, Massachusetts sweetened the honeypot of benefits for illegal aliens even more with two sweeping bills. The “Work and Family Mobility Act” (WFMA) became effective, granting driver’s licenses to all Massachusetts residents regardless of immigration status while separately, legislators passed a bill allowing “undocumented students” to qualify for in-state tuition and state financial aid at Massachusetts (four-year) colleges.

Another feature is the state’s “Right to Shelter” laws. Boston is also a “Right to Shelter” city, meaning anyone who requests shelter and has children has the right to a shelter. The Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants received 1,000 individuals in 2021, which doubled the following year to 2,000. The Immigrant Family Services Institute reported 1,800 migrants arrived between May and July 2022 a six-fold increase from typical monthly totals in previous years. A significant number were pregnant women, significant as their children born in the United States would automatically become US citizens and act as ‘anchor babies’ for their mothers.

The net — and magnetizing — effect is dire. As FAIR’s 2023 report showed, 393,000 illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children live in Massachusetts costing taxpayers $2.9 billion annually for health care, education, criminal justice, and general welfare. That does not account for an additional $850 million the Massachusetts Legislature is now considering to cover unexpected and mounting expenses this year alone. Nor does it account for the recent addition of 4000 indigent migrants living in overflowing state shelters. More are arriving each day, forcing a statewide scramble to locate additional “safety-net sites” … none, by the way, on affluent Beacon Hill or Nantucket.

Offering no-cost community college to illegal aliens will only compound Massachusetts’s current migrant crisis by incentivizing more arrivals. But admittedly — at least in one regard — the plan does offer an immediate “educational” takeaway for recipients: Before they even enter a classroom, illegal aliens will learn the lesson that there’s no penalty for law-breaking, only rewards.