A Massachusetts town is suing its only hotel for closing to the public and overcrowding its rooms with 450 migrants in a $10 million-a-year taxpayer-funded deal with the state.
The Republican-led city of Taunton is seeking $115,000 from the 155-room Clarion Hotel to house more migrant families than it can safely accommodate.
The hotel reportedly struck a nine-year deal with the Democrat-run state last year to become an emergency shelter for migrants pouring across the southern border.
Taunton residents say it is bad for the town of 60,000 people, which is losing business because the nearest hotel is in neighboring Raynham.
Taunton City is suing Clarion Hotel for unpaid overcrowding fines after it became a migrant shelter last year
Massachusetts has become the new home for some of the many migrants who have crossed the southern border in recent years, including this family from Venezuela
That means there is nowhere for visitors to stay or for the city to provide emergency shelter for veterans and the homeless.
Mayor Shauna O’Connell, a Republican, told NBC that the city was told last year that 18 migrant families would be housed at Clarion — but that number quickly increased.
“Soon after, the entire hotel was occupied by more than a hundred families and ceased to function as a hotel,” O’Connell said.
‘Within a few months, the hotel was completely transformed into an emergency hostel, housing approximately 445 people at any given time.’
This is more than the 350-360 people the seven-story building is allowed to house, officials say, so the city began issuing fines for zoning violations.
The fines between May and September of last year grew to $114,600, which is the basis of a non-payment case now pending in Bristol Superior Court.
O’Connell says residents and businesses complain about the lack of a hotel and the increase in migrant children packing into nearby schools.
Taunton’s Republican Mayor Shauna O’Connell says the city should help its own veterans and homeless before helping migrants
“While we are not unsympathetic to migrants fleeing unstable conditions in other countries, we have limited resources at our disposal,” O’Connell said.
Taunton has ‘many residents in need, including seniors and veterans who require services and housing,’ the mayor added.
An investigation by The Fall River Reporter found that the number of 911 callouts has increased since the migrants arrived.
The hotel receives about one emergency call each day, ranging from domestic disturbances to mental health episodes and overdoses.
Residents in Taunton have complained about migrants loitering in the area.
“No one else can get a room,” said one resident, who did not want to give his name.
‘There are so many homeless veterans who need help and they don’t get help until the migrants.’
Migrants receive food distributions at a shelter in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in February 2024
Taunton officials say the hotel should be accessible to the state’s veterans in need and the homeless. Pictured: Homeless people move to a recreation center in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts
Clarion entered into an agreement with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development to house the migrants last April, according to NBC
The $10 million-a-year deal covers room, board and other expenses and runs through June 2032.
The hotel, housing department and the office of state Democratic Gov. Maura Healey did not respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.
The fear of uncontrolled migration across America’s southern border has become a vulnerability for President Joe Biden in his re-election campaign against immigration hardliner Donald Trump.
Immigrant rights groups say asylum seekers should have their claims assessed fairly and receive housing and other support until they can find work.