{"id":1999582,"date":"2023-08-13T20:09:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T00:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-illegal-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T20:11:14","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T00:11:14","slug":"outrage-as-illegal-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-illegal-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger as Boston&#8217;s homeless camp overlooked for illegal immigrants&#8217; housing."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foutrage-as-illegal-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1999582&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Hidden Crisis: The Deplorable Conditions of Mass and Cass<\/h2>\n<p>Just\u200b a few\u200d miles from the ivory halls of Harvard College and blocks from some of \u200dthe most expensive real \u2062estate in the country is a deplorable out-in-the-open encampment of wandering drug users, a plethora of homeless Americans including \u2063U.S. veterans,\u200d mentally ill, suspected \u200chuman trafficking, and heaps of scattered trash that\u200d looks \u2064more like a staged scene in a movie on the ghetto district \u2064of \u2062downtown LA than upscale \u200bBoston.<\/p>\n<p>The South End\/Roxbury \u200cneighborhood, \u2064known as &#8220;Mass and Cass&#8221; for its \u2064location at\u200d the\u2062 corner of Melnea\u200d Cass Boulevard and\u200b Massachusetts Avenue, has for a long time been \u2064in its condition. &#8220;Ever since I can\u200d remember,&#8221;\u2063 retired\u200c Massachusetts State Trooper Daralyn Heywood,\u2063 who served as the first female commander of the state police of the\u2063 South End barracks, told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>Heywood, a Republican, made an\u200d unsuccessful bid\u2064 for state senate last \u2062year. \u200cShe now works as a private investigator.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Stories<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/ms-13-sex-offender-arrested-in-texas-5461636\">MS-13 Sex\u200d Offender \u2063Arrested in\u200c Texas<\/a> &#8211; \u200d8\/13\/2023<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/mayor-says-immigration-crisis-to-cost-nyc-12-billion-over-3-years-5456715\">Mayor Says \u200cImmigration Crisis to Cost NYC $12\u200d Billion \u2062Over 3 Years<\/a> &#8211; 8\/10\/2023<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>She and others familiar with \u200cBoston politics are \u2063outraged by an \u2062unintended hypocrisy born out of a recent\u2062 power \u2062grab \u200dover the troubled neighborhood\u2014one\u200b they say underscores just how far gone the American \u2064government is when it comes\u200d to taking care of illegal immigrants &#8220;over their own.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s just \u200ddisgusting. \u200bWe \u200chave Citizens of the United States, \u2062some veterans, in desperate need of help in \u200da right-to-shelter state, yet we are buying up \u2063hotels for illegals,&#8221; said Massachusetts State Rep. Peter Durant\u2064 (R-Spencer).<\/p>\n<p>The unwitting\u200c hypocrisy brought on by government officials began a little over a week ago when Boston City \u2063Council President\u2062 Ed Flynn, son\u2064 of legendary Boston Mayor Ray Flynn, became acting Mayor during a 10-day vacation \u2064taken\u200d by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.<\/p>\n<p>Three days into Mayor Wu&#8217;s vacation, Mr.\u200d Flynn \u2063declared public outrage over Mass and Cass, \u200dreleased an\u2062 open letter \u2063calling for its cleanup, and brought along local press for \u2063a walkthrough of the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Flynn told the Boston \u200dHerald, &#8220;It was worse than [he] \u2062thought,&#8221; and told a local podcast that it was so dangerous that outreach workers had\u200c to be pulled from the area. Mr.\u200d Flynn suggested a warrant sweep.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A row of tents that many Boston residents call home in an area known as Mass and Cass. (Photo by Alice\u2063 Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not long\u200c after Mr. Flynn&#8217;s public decries,\u200b Wu&#8217;s press office issued a public statement indicating that &#8220;while she \u2063is physically unavailable,&#8221; she would \u201cstill be making all major\u2063 decisions that need \u200dto \u2064be made\u201d relevant to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Her office\u2064 also said there \u2064would be no warrant sweep.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;mayoral miff,&#8221; as termed by one national media outlet, fell\u2064 in \u2063the same week Massachusetts \u2064Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency over what she \u200ccalled a crisis\u200c in a shortage of housing and public services for the &#8220;rapidly rising number of migrant \u200dfamilies arriving in Massachusetts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Weeks earlier, it was revealed\u2063 Healey \u2063had allocated \u2062millions of taxpayer dollars\u2062 across the\u200b state to secure entire hotels and other\u200d housing for thousands of illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>But neither she, Mayor\u2062 Wu, nor Mr. Flynn has made any moves \u2064to\u200b declare a state of emergency\u2063 for\u200c housing for the people of Mass\u2064 and Cass. &#8220;It&#8217;s hypocrisy at its \u200dhighest level,&#8221; \u2063said Durant.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Rep. Durant filed\u2064 a records\u2062 request with Gov.\u2062 Healey&#8217;s \u200coffice asking for an exact figure of the money being pumped into housing for illegal immigration and also for a \u2062list of the \u200dspecific hotels that she was securing with the\u2062 money.<\/p>\n<p>He made the records request after learning Healey had secured housing in 28 towns\u2062 for 3,853\u200b migrants, with more entering the state daily.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Healey denied Rep. Durant&#8217;s\u200b request claiming that \u2062the &#8220;Office of the\u200d Governor is \u200dnot subject to the Massachusetts public records law.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He\u2064 and Mrs. \u200dHeywood and others, including an on-site social worker who spoke\u200b to The Epoch Times on the \u2062condition\u2064 of\u200d anonymity,\u2063 questioned why\u2062 Mr. Flynn, Mayor Wu, and  Gov. Healey\u200b aren&#8217;t declaring state of emergencies for the estimated 200 \u200cpeople\u200d that make up the Boston encampment.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A patrol officer who worked for a private security\u2064 company hired by the City of Boston walks through a homeless encampment in\u2063 the city&#8217;s South End district (Photo by Alice Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mrs. Heywood said years ago, when\u200b the \u2063population at\u200b Mass and \u200dCass was much\u2064 higher, \u200bpolice were at least\u200d able to bring some of the worst cases\u200b from there to the\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/\" title=\"Anger rises as immigrants receive housing priority over Boston's homeless camp.\">government-run \u2063mental health \u2063facilities<\/a>,\u200b but \u200dshe said\u200c they were defunded and\u200c closed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If\u200b they are spending millions\u2062 on housing immigrants and really concerned \u200cabout humanitarian needs, why not for\u2063 their\u200b own?&#8221; asked \u2064Mrs. Heywood.<\/p>\n<p>She said while \u2064there is definitely a\u2064 mixture of violent criminals, heavy drug users and people with what she called \u200c&#8221;hardcore&#8221; mental illnesses, many\u200d also just need housing and outreach services, like those \u2062being provided \u200bto illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>Despite\u2063 his\u2062 push for public attention\u2063 to the \u200dMass\u2064 and Cass plight, Flynn did not respond to repeated inquiries from The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200c only move so far to fix the problem was to take away the tents and other makeshift shelters, including a construct of cardboard boxes and tarps, which\u200b was done \u200bunder Mayor \u2063Wu&#8217;s administration and Mr.\u2064 Flynn&#8217;s watch as head of the Boston \u2063City Council.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Healey was still serving as Massachusetts attorney general \u2064at the time.<\/p>\n<p>A \u2063Jan. 12, 2022, picture that ran in \u2064Politico shows a \u2062bulldozer scooping up their only means of\u200d housing\u200d along\u200d with furniture and other items that made \u200cup the only place they\u2064 called home.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u200bthen, a whole\u200d new \u200blandscape of such makeshift housing has returned.<\/p>\n<p>Fueling the allegations of hypocrisy against \u200dMr. Flynn, Mayor Wu, and Gov. Healey, all of whom have promoted \u2064the Black Lives Matter slogan, is the neighborhood&#8217;s backstory as \u200ba \u2062place meant\u200d to symbolize an improved life for laborers, minorities, \u200dand the less fortunate.<\/p>\n<p>Melnea Cass Boulevard, \u2062the \u200bepicenter \u200bof\u200c the squalid district, is named\u2064 after \u2062a local civil rights activist and co-founder of the Brotherhood of\u200c Sleeping Car\u200b Porters, a union for African-American employees \u200bwho \u2063worked for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-as-illegal-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/\" title=\"Anger as Boston's homeless camp overlooked for illegal immigrants' housing.\">local railroad cars manufacturer<\/a> \u200bThe Pullman Company.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Durant said there is &#8220;just no excuse \u200cto buy at the very least\u2062 to house \u2063the people, especially the veterans who served this country,&#8221; alongside\u2063 immigrants at the hotels\u200d being paid for by taxpayers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mrs.\u200c Heywood called it the &#8220;ultimate government\u2062 betrayal&#8221; and questioned why\u2062 the hypocrisy\u2064 isn&#8217;t angering more.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the situation has proven\u2062 to be a double-edged sword for businesses that contend with the residual effects of \u2063the Mass and\u200b Cass community.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, business owner Domingos DaRosa \u2064told CBS News\u200c that his property is not only riddled\u2063 on a daily basis with used needles, but\u2063 some of the residents are starting to\u2064 use them to threaten property \u2062owners who kick them off their property.<\/p>\n<p>DaRosa, who was later issued a \u2064court summons in 2020 for\u2063 taking some of the used hypodermic needles from Mass and Cass and dumping them\u200b on the lawn of then \u200bGov. Charlie Baker&#8217;s house in Swampscott, an\u200b oceanfront community\u2063 about 15 miles\u200c north of\u2063 Boston.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What about OUR community? Who cares about the safety \u2064and inhumane conditions of our \u2063community impacted by \u200dthis humanitarian crisis?&#8221; Mr. DaRosa asked in a Facebook post. He was later cited\u200b for harassment and \u200cordered to stay away from\u2063 Baker&#8217;s property.<\/p>\n<h2><b>Meet The People of Mass and Cass<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>On Saturday, (Aug 12), the day Mayor Wu\u200c was scheduled to return from her vacation and take back the rights, \u200cThe Epoch Times walked into the zone of Mass \u2064and Cass with no police escort and spent the day talking to many of the hundreds of people who \u200dcall the \u200csqualid encampment home.<\/p>\n<p>One resident, a 27-year-old white man wearing\u2062 a Red \u200bSox hat who landed there at Mass and Cass after he and his mother got evicted, offered up a bottle of water, \u2062saying, &#8220;I \u200dknow you must be hot standing out here all day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:640px\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>A\u2063 young man who grew\u2064 up \u200bin Boston walks through a Boston homeless\u2064 encampment where he has been living since he and his mother were evicted (Photo\u2062 by Alice\u2064 Giordano)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The young man who asked to remain anonymous told The Epoch Times that he knows &#8220;everyone thinks we&#8217;re all strung out druggies here, and we&#8217;re not.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Another resident that spoke with \u200bThe\u200b Epoch \u200dTimes was Michael Banks, a tall \u200dblack \u2064man\u200c who spoke especially articulately. Until just a few months \u2062ago, he lived in an apartment in nearby Roxbury until \u200calcoholism, he admitted, &#8220;got the better of him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Banks, \u200blucid \u200cand clearly\u200d not under the influence\u2063 of drugs or \u200dalcohol, spoke about the\u200c disgust he felt about\u200d the \u2062way the city officials and media have portrayed the\u200b area,\u2064 noting that when Flynn did his &#8220;media\u200d walkthrough,&#8221; he\u200c didn&#8217;t stop to\u200b talk \u200cto a single person living \u2064on the streets \u2063of Mass and Cass.<\/p>\n<p>He said the same goes with\u2064 the\u2064 media, which has been running stories almost daily about the\u200b Flynn\/Wu controversy alongside the stories about all the services being offered &#8220;unconditionally&#8221; \u2063to illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nobody has\u200c bothered to come and talk to us,&#8221; he said, &#8220;you&#8217;re actually the first.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. \u200cBanks talks about how the media chooses to write about the smell of human urine, the\u2064 scatter of needles, and people having sex \u2064in\u2062 public\u2014as if \u2064&#8221;we want\u2062 to live\u200c in this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said \u2062the encampment had\u2063 been used\u2062 as a &#8220;political freak show&#8221; and that he and \u2062others have talked \u2062about how degraded\u2062 they feel\u2064 over the &#8220;well-publicized \u200cpriority&#8221; their own\u200c government officials \u2062are given to illegal immigrants over \u2064them.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;ve complained about food and \u2063scratchy sheets,&#8221; said \u200cMr. Banks, &#8220;and we&#8217;re\u2062 American citizens quite literally sleeping on the pavement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked \u200dabout three recent stabbings reported\u2064 here recently by the Boston police and even\u200b a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/outrage-immigrants-get-housing-priority-over-bostons-longstanding-homeless-camp\/\" title=\"Boston's long-established homeless camp overlooked as priority given to immigrants for housing.\">stolen dog traced recovered<\/a> near the encampment,\u2064 Banks \u200cresponded,\u200d &#8220;Yeah, of course, there&#8217;s some bad people here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what happens when you put all your homeless people, from people with severe drug addictions to people who just shouldn&#8217;t be out on the streets, in one \u2063spot with no bathrooms\u2063 and no privacy,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to\u200d one man\u2064 standing \u2062alone, talking to \u2062himself with his eyes closed, and rubbing his arms seemingly \u2063uncontrollably. The Epoch Times also \u2064observed many disabled people including a man who was missing his \u2062foot and was confined to a wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Where are Flynn\u200c and Healey&#8217;s concerns for him?&#8221; he\u200b asked.<\/p>\n<p>Until recently, Danielle Boyle, one of the dozens of women\u200d who call the encampment home,\u200d worked at a \u200blocal Dunkin&#8217; and\u2064 lived in \u2064a trailer \u200cin nearby Revere.<\/p>\n<p>Ms.\u2062 Boyle said when the property\u2062 was\u2063 sold, she was told to\u2062 leave because the trailer was being moved.<\/p>\n<p>The 39-year-old admitted she had a troubled \u2062life and \u2064struggled with\u2062 an addiction to cocaine \u2063and heroin. She spoke fluently with The Epoch\u2062 Times for more than an hour, in large\u2063 part about \u2063all the attempts she has made to get housing \u2062and being told &#8220;there was a waiting list.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;d \u2063kill to be\u2062 in\u2064 any hotel\u200b room and be able\u2062 to take a private hot shower,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just miles from Harvard College and pricey real estate lies a shocking encampment. It houses drug users, homeless Americans (including veterans), the mentally ill, and suspected victims of human trafficking. The area is strewn with trash, resembling a wasteland rather than a civilized society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":1999583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}