The Healey administration shelled out more than $6,800 to send a five-person team to the southern border in Texas to “educate” people of a shelter shortage here, according to her office.
The trip was pitched as another attempt to curtail the number of migrants arriving in Massachusetts and make connections with federal immigration officials who were dealing with a surge in border crossings down south.
A spokesperson for the governor said Friday the group spent a total of $6,804 on the four-day trip this week, including $2,028 on hotels, $3,903 on flights, and $872 on ground transportation.
Scott Rice, a retired National Guard general who oversees the state-run shelter system, said the trip was an “important opportunity to meet with families arriving in the U.S. and the organizations that work with them at the border to make sure they have accurate information about the lack of shelter space in Massachusetts.”
“It is essential that we get the word out that our shelters are full so that families can plan accordingly to make sure they have a safe place to go,” he said in a statement earlier this week.
The group visited locations in San Antonio, McAllen, Hidalgo, and Brownsville, the most common points of entry for migrant families that later arrive in Massachusetts, according to the Healey administration.
Healey said earlier this week that the trip was “successful” even as conservatives criticized the move as a “publicity stunt.”
“We don’t have housing available right now, and we wanted to be really clear. It’s something I’ve been saying for a long time, but I think it was important that we be able to communicate directly with folks on the ground,” she said. “I think it’s successful. I think it’s important that we be out there with that message.”
Details on how much the trip cost were released only hours after Gov. Maura Healey banned migrants from sleeping at Logan Airport, where large groups have gathered for months to stay overnight.
The directive takes effect July 9 and the state plans to offer people at the airport transportation to overflow shelter sites, including one that opened this week at a former prison in Norfolk.
Healey did not say if police would arrest those that violate the order.
“We’re going to take it as it comes. My hope is through the work that we’re doing and the extensive communication that we’re doing right now with folks, not just at the border, but folks who are in our service provider community, that we’re going to get people relocated,” she said Friday, “and also be clear to people who might think about coming here that this really is an option.”
