Massachusetts services are said to be at a critical point amid a surge of immigrant families in West Springfield.
Social worker Jackie Willemain, 44, told Boston Globe His office has been overwhelmed by the needs of new residents who are mostly staying in shelters in the community of about 29,000 people.
Area schools have reportedly been requesting items such as wipes, underwear and pants for immigrant and refugee students who are homeless.
Willemain said her workload has increased fivefold in the past two years: More than half of the students come from immigrant families.
A 13-year-old student reportedly suffered headaches from squinting at the blackboard, but was afraid to tell her mother for fear that the glasses were too expensive, even though she was entitled to free glasses.
Social worker Jackie Willemain, 44, told the Boston Globe that her office has been overwhelmed by the needs of the area’s new residents.
The number of English learners in Massachusetts school increased by nearly a fifth, about 16,000 students, from 2022 to 2024.
Many of the migrant children come from struggling countries like Venezuela and Haiti and have never received formal education or had their education interrupted by war or long journeys to the United States. According to Willemain, some had never held a pencil or sat at a desk.
The West Springfield district, with about 4,000 students, has received more than $2.2 million of the $46 million in emergency aid awarded by the state to school districts.
He has hired more English teachers and another homeless-family liaison to keep up with the new arrivals.
However, the aid received by the West Springfield district only amounts to $104 per student per day, an amount that social workers consider insufficient.
Although more than 2,000 miles from the southern border, Massachusetts has received about 50,000 new arrivals since January 2021. Migrants are pictured at the La Colaborativa day shelter in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
State officials have sent dozens of immigrant families to West Springfield, where they are housed in hotels and motels that have been converted into shelters.
The district received a large group of migrants in October 2022, most of whom were fleeing violence in Haiti.
The city’s mayor, William Reichelt, told the Globe that state officials never informed local authorities of their plan to send the families to West Springfield.
The influx of immigrant families has led some, like Councilman Daniel O’Brien, to lobby against providing additional resources to immigrants.
O’Brien tried unsuccessfully to cut $1 million from the school budget earlier this year, saying his “constituents are tired, angry and fed up with being abandoned.”
Haitian immigrants receive help from staff at the Immigrant Families Services Institute in Boston
Immigrant populations have strained schools in many communities across the United States, as the Western Hemisphere faces several humanitarian and political crises in countries such as Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.
Although it is more than 2,000 miles from the southern border, Massachusetts has received about 50,000 new arrivals since January 2021.
Some reunited with relatives, others looked for work in Boston, Worcester, Springfield and other big cities.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, joined eight counterparts from other migrant-hit states in January in calling on the White House and Congress for border action and billions of additional dollars to keep services at bay. operation.