BORDER TOWN USA — The Massachusetts Republican Party is condemning the administration of Democrat Governor Maura Healey for its failure to address the widespread violence and chaos in taxpayer-funded migrant shelters in the state. Republican legislators cite information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request as evidence of rampant physical and sexual assaults taking place at the shelters since 2022. GOP legislators are asserting Gov. Healey failed to act until a high-profile incident forced her hand.
The high-profile incident Massachusetts Republican party officials cited in a recent press release occurred in late December when Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, a 28-year-old Dominican national, was arrested at a state-funded migrant shelter by police in Revere. According to the Revere Police Department, Andujar was found in possession of an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle, ammunition, rifle magazines, and an amount of illegal fentanyl with an estimated street value of $1 million.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers placed an immigration detainer on Andujar, who is facing criminal charges that include felony possession of a firearm, being an alien in possession of a firearm, the unlicensed sale or possession of an assault weapon, and trafficking in 200 grams or more of heroin, morphine, opium or fentanyl, according to an ICE press release. According to ICE, Andujar entered the United States unlawfully at an unknown location sometime within the past year.
On Monday, facing mounting pressure, Governor Healey ordered an inspection of all state-funded migrant shelters following Andujar’s arrest. The inspection order includes a review of the shelters’ intake processes to determine whether additional measures are necessary to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents in the future.
State GOP legislators assert Governor Healey’s request for the inspection and review of procedures comes too late as criminal activity has been taking place at the shelters for years with no action being taken by the governor or her administration. Massachusetts GOP Chair Amy Carnevale criticized the call for inspections in a recent statement, saying, “I can’t stress enough that what’s happening in these migrant shelters is worse than anyone could ever imagine, and it’s been going on unabated for years.”
Carnevale continued, “The Healey-Driscoll Administration has overseen a state-funded humanitarian crisis, funded entirely by taxpayers, and now they want even more money to sustain this broken system. Inspections might uncover more horrors, but they don’t solve the root problem: Massachusetts’ overly generous Right-to-Shelter law, which has become a magnet for migrants and illegal immigrants worldwide.”
In August, ICE ERO officers arrested a Haitian national accused of raping a child in a Rockland, Massachusetts, migrant shelter. In that incident, according to ICE, Cory Bernard Alvarez, an unlawfully present 26-year-old migrant, was arrested on suspicion of victimizing a minor at the migrant shelter. According to an ICE press release, the Rockland Police Department arrested Alvarez in March for aggravated rape of a child, ten years age difference. ICE issued an immigration detainer against Alvarez with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office to prevent his release into the community.
In June, the Plymouth County Superior Court refused to honor the ICE detainer and released Alvarez from custody on the aggravated rape of a child charge on a $500 bond. Two months later, ICE ERO officers located and arrested Alvarez in Brocton, Massachusetts.
A report in the Fall River Reporter revealed several of the incidents discovered by the Massachusetts GOP FOIA request, including incidents involving weapons, drugs, and gang affiliations, according to an email sent from Logan Trupiano, Director of Communications for the Massachusetts GOP. According to the Fall River Reporter, an August 2024 incident included an allegation by a housekeeper that she was sexually harassed and physically touched in a shelter elevator.
A second August report described facility staff members being threatened when a migrant shelter resident pulled out a knife and threatened them. Another report described the police response to an incidence of domestic violence that required the hospitalization of one victim at a migrant shelter in March.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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