Many immigrants expected to come to Massachusetts when Title 42 expires today

Mass. — Immigrants are expected to flood over the U.S. - Mexican border as Title 42 ends on Thursday, many of them expected to come here.

“There will be a surge of immigrants and other folks in Massachusetts, particularly coming into in the Boston area,” said Jeff Thielman of the International Institute of New England.

Thielman is the CEO of the IINE. He says they help migrants get settled and apply for benefits once they arrive. And he says the real surge is coming.

“The data at the border tells us the number of people crossing will double. And so, it’ll go from 6,000 to 10,000 to 13,000 a day,” he said.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu says the city is already seeing forty to sixty migrants a day looking for food, shelter and services. “We are a city that will always step up when there is need. But this is significant,” said Wu.

Just last week Boston 25 showed you Haitian immigrants sheltering at Boston Medical Center with no place to go. Theilman says Haitians are in real need.

“We’ve enrolled in the last week at least 150 people from Haiti in services,” he said.

With the numbers of immigrants arriving uncertain, Theilman says the state is providing some funding but needs to help more to coordinate services once they arrive.

“They have put money into the state budget to help migrants coming into the state. They are aware of the fact the shelter system is overwhelmed right now,” said Theilman.

And he says the crisis, already overwhelming, is only expected to worsen. “We are behind in enrolling people waiting for benefits.. We have a waiting list of people who have signed up,” he said.

Theilman was in Washington D.C. today, meeting with Senator Markey asking for help and better coordination with state and federal officials.

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