Gov. Maura Healey says ‘some’ of Trump’s border policies make sense

Gov Maura Healey offered a rare nod of approval to President Donald Trump s immigration policies Tuesday saying a few of the decisions the Republican made this year to restrict access for newcomers trying to enter the U S at the demarcation make a lot of sense Massachusetts experienced a surge in migrant arrivals over the past two years that placed a strain on state-run exigency shelters But shelter caseloads started to decline over the winter after a series of new rules imposed by the Trump Biden and Healey administrations took effect After an unrelated event at the State House on Tuesday Healey disclosed she had narrated Biden that he needed to act on the dividing line and shut it down two years ago three years ago now I think that specific of what Donald Trump has done on the confines makes a lot of sense Healey explained reporters I won t get into specifics but the general move and recognition that there needed to be more control brought to the margin is absolutely correct And certain things have been done that make a lot of sense Trump has overseen a broad crackdown on immigration into the U S His policies have suspended the asylum system forced several transients to wait in Mexico while their immigration cases play out and stripped legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans His administration also emboldened U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement to carry out deportations all across the country including several that have resulted in high-profile legal challenges like the situation of Tufts University graduate trainee Rumeysa Ozturk Critics including Healey have slammed various of Trump s policies and deportation cases as inhumane and overreaches of governmental powers And even though Healey mentioned she agreed with several of the president s moves she made clear that there are certain things that the Trump administration is doing now that don t make sense Nobody in this country should have ICE come into their home or into a place of work without due process rights right And I think that that s a real trouble right now They ve just gone too far in terms of the issue of immigration and that s creating incredible fear and neighborhood and causing a lot of heartache and anxiety disclosed the first-term Democrat from Arlington Healey and other Democratic lawmakers on Beacon Hill have implemented their own far-reaching restrictions on the state-run shelter system that was set up decades ago to house homeless families with children and pregnant women Those cutbacks included time limits on families stays requirements that shelter residents provide proof that they are lawful in the country and strict compliance measures to ensure households were working toward stable housing The rules came after shelters peaked at more than families in July a level that pushed the system to a urgent point and led lawmakers to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to cover massive costs Healey touted the effects of those policies Monday Her administration mentioned the number of families in shelter is expected to drop below this summer as bureaucrats moved to close all of the costly hotels and motels serving as temporary housing sites The governor announced she was really pleased about the reforms and making a better system for families and for dealing with the issue of housing in the state But I just want to say it s also why we need to continue to build housing she declared Because people struggle with affording rent affording housing And I think the top priority out of this administration after cutting taxes was building more housing