The first of 400 migrants to be housed in a converted prison have been greeted by protesters unhappy they are moving into their small town.
Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk, Massachusetts, closed in 2015 and has been repurposed as a migrant shelter.
The jail was a minimum-security facility and used dorm-style accommodation that doesn’t look like a traditional prison, and was heavily modified for the migrants.
Norfolk Select Board chairman Jim Lehan said 21 families, totaling about 70 people, moved in on Wednesday afternoon with more to come soon.
Locals are concerned both about migrant children being housed in a former jail, and of the town’s ability to cope with 400 new residents.
Concerned Citizens of Norfolk held a protest in the town center as the migrants arrived on Wednesday.
Others voiced their views at a town hall meeting on Tuesday night, where Lehan tried to answer questions but admitted there was much he didn’t know.
‘There is fear here, a lot of fear. I’m sure everybody in here has fear of this,’ Margaret Soderlund said.
‘And then on the other side, I want to go help these people because they’re not all bad people. They’re just trying to make a life for themselves, too.’
Lehan said as Massachusetts owned the facility, it did not need the city’s permission to open the shelter, or to consult with it – and was a ‘nightmare’ to deal with.
Norfolk has a population of about 11,600 and one ambulance, one petrol station, and no supermarkets. About 150 migrant children will join the few local schools.
‘It’s like Boston getting 25,000 people, that’s a 4.5 per cent population increase overnight,’ Benjamin Sprague told WBZ-TV at the protest.
‘There is no music room anymore. They have to do music inside the classroom, so how are they going to adjust to have that many children enter into the school system and not have an impact on everything else.’
Jack Olivieri, a member of Concerned Citizens of Norfolk, said it wasn’t fair to send the migrants to a small town without enough infrastructure.
‘We have no traffic lights. We have no sidewalks except right in the center of town. The prison facility is out in the middle of nowhere,’ he told WHDH.
‘We have a pizza shop, we have a pharmacy, and a few other small businesses, and that’s about it.
‘There’s no resentment towards the migrants or the people that are coming. It’s not their fault. They’re blameless. It’s the politicians who made these decisions without consulting with us.’
However, other locals – some with Norfolk Strong, which is dedicated to welcoming the migrants – held a counter-protest.
Local minister Gretchen Robinson said she was ‘upset and angry’ that her neighbors were being so unwelcoming to the migrants.
‘What is America for? It’s a whole bunch of immigrants that came here. Then, we turn around and we say, ‘We don’t like you because of the color of your skin or whatever or your background.’ It’s just not fair,’ she told CBS.
Jessica Scanlon from Norfolk Strong added: ‘We would also like to publicly recognize the heartache that some of our current residents are experiencing in the face of racist, xenophobic and threatening rhetoric.
‘Our kids are watching. We as a community need to come together.’
Norfolk Strong was collecting school supplies and second hand clothes, and giving emergency workers goodie bags to give to migrant kids they saw.
‘We aim to support the Town of Norfolk in securing additional funding needed to accept these new neighbors and implementing successful integration plans,’ it website read.
Massachusetts’ population more than doubled to 7,500 in the past year, with another 750 on an emergency assistance waitlist.
The Norfolk shelter has an emergency permit to operate for six months, which can be renewed if necessary.
The state will provide round-the-clock security, on-site medical and ambulance services, and vaccination clinics.
The shelter is a ‘temporary safety-net site for families experiencing homelessness’ and only meant to house migrants until they get on their feet.
Migrants there will be recertified every month to make sure they are applying for work permits, getting jobs, and finding private housing.
The shelter can accommodate about 140 families in dorm rooms with bathrooms and showers on each floor.
The facility also has a cafeteria, a gymnasium, a large common room, and offices that will be used for case management and administrative activities.
‘The site will be set up with play areas for children, as well as classroom spaces for adults to engage in activities that support pathways to stability such as ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes, job training courses, and housing search workshops,’ Emergency Assistance Director Scott Rice said.
Leaders in Norfolk, Massachusetts, where the facility is located, said in a statement Monday that they had not been consulted before the decision.
Norfolk officials said the town was informed only in May that the former prison had been designated as temporary shelter.
They said the town had no role in the decision and was no consulted ahead of time.
The razor wire on the fence surrounding the facility was removed and the gates will remain open so families will be free to exit and return as needed.
Safety-net sites like the former prison are intended for homeless families with children or pregnant women who are eligible for emergency assistance under the state’s right to shelter law, but are currently on a waitlist.
About half of families in emergency assistance in Massachusetts are newly arrived migrants.
Healey officials said the state was providing extra funding to help cover the cost of students suddenly arriving in school districts because of the emergency shelter situation.