A Massachusetts city has sued 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 signed a nine-year deal last year with the Democratic-led state to become an emergency shelter for migrants flooding across the southern border.
Taunton residents say this is bad for the town of 60,000, which is losing out on revenue because the nearest hotel is in neighboring Raynham.
The City of Taunton is suing the 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 no place for visitors to stay, or for the city to provide emergency housing 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 the Clarion — but that number quickly skyrocketed.
“Shortly afterward, 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 had been completely converted into emergency accommodation and housed around 445 people at any one time.’
This is more than the 350 to 360 people the seven-story building is allowed to house, officials say, so the city began issuing fines for occupancy violations.
The fines rose to $114,600 between May and September last year, which WCVB says is the basis of a failure-to-pay charge now pending in Bristol Superior Court.
O’Connell says residents and businesses are complaining about the lack of a hotel and the surge of migrant children packing into nearby schools.
Taunton’s Republican mayor, Shauna O’Connell, says the city should help its own veterans and homeless people before helping migrants
“While we are not unsympathetic to migrants fleeing unstable conditions in other countries, we have limited resources available,” the city said in a statement.
Taunton has “many residents in need, including seniors and veterans, who require services and housing,” the statement added.
Research by The Fall River Reporter found that 911 calls have skyrocketed since the migrants arrived.
The hotel receives approximately one emergency call every day, ranging from domestic disturbances to mental health issues and overdoses.
Residents of Taunton have complained about migrants hanging around the area.
“No one else can get a room,” said one resident, who did not want to reveal his name.
“There are so many homeless veterans who need help, and they’re not getting help any sooner than the immigrants.”
Migrants receive food parcels at a shelter in Chelsea, Massachusetts, in February 2024
Taunton officials say the hotel should be available to veterans in need and the state’s homeless population. Pictured: Homeless people move into a recreation center in Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts
According to NBC, the Clarion struck a deal with the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development last April to house the migrants
The $10 million per year deal includes rooms, room and board and runs until June 2032.
The hotel, housing department and state Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s office did not respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.
Fears of uncontrolled migration across America’s southern border have 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 fairly assessed and receive housing and other support until they can find work.