Growing calls for wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley to house migrants with one resident saying if town can spend money on DEI consultants it can shelter border crossers

• The state is facing backlash over claims it is putting the brunt of the migrant crisis on lower-income communities
• Tensions reached a boiling point earlier this month after the state converted a state-run community center in Roxbury into a temporary shelter for migrants

Calls have been growing for the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley to house migrants as Massachusetts, and the nation, struggles with a surge of asylum seekers.

The state is facing backlash over claims it is putting the brunt of the migrant crisis on lower-income communities, with tensions reaching a boiling point earlier this month after the state converted a state-run community center in Roxbury into a temporary shelter for migrants.

A sign in a protest against the shelter earlier this month read: ‘Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley!’

And Wellesley residents are open to the idea, according to the Boston Globe, which cited a local who referred to other town expenses including DEI commitments.

‘We have money to spend on lots of things that are so irrelevant,’ said the local, who did not want to give their name. ‘We just hired a consultant from Arlington to tell us how to talk to each other.’

Calls have been growing for the wealthy Boston suburb of Wellesley to house migrants as Massachusetts, and the nation, struggles with a surge of asylum seekers

Tensions reached a boiling point earlier this month after the state converted a state-run community center in Roxbury into a temporary shelter for migrants

A sign in a protest against the shelter earlier this month read: ‘Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley!’

Wellesley is perhaps best known as the home of Wellesley College, a prestigious private women’s liberal arts college that counts Hillary Clinton as an alum

Wellesley is perhaps best known as the home of Wellesley College, a prestigious private women’s liberal arts college that counts Hillary Clinton as an alum.

Regina LaRocque, a member of Wellesley’s Town Meeting and a professor at Harvard Medical School, also told the Globe she would welcome the migrants.

‘We are dealing with a humanitarian crisis here in Massachusetts and all of our communities should be stepping up to meet the needs of people arriving as migrants,’ she said.

Democratic Boston councilwoman Julia Mejia also called for Wellesley to house migrants, telling NBC that ‘cities and towns that have so much more resources’ than Boston should share the burden.

‘I think everybody needs to start opening their doors because this is a shared responsibility,’ Mejia added.

Meanwhile Boston Globe columnist and Editorial Board member Marcela Garcia also supported housing migrants in Wellesley.

Regina LaRocque, a member of Wellesley’s Town Meeting and a professor at Harvard Medical School, also told the Globe she would welcome the migrants

Democratic Boston councilwoman Julia Mejia also called for Wellesley to house migrants, saying ‘cities and towns that have so much more resources’  should share the burden

‘Why should Roxbury, a predominantly Black, low-income community that has historically lacked enough investment, step up if wealthier communities haven’t?’ Garcia wrote in an op-ed.

Democratic Governor Maura Healey has said the state government has no choice but to continue opening temporary shelters to deal with the surge of migrant families.

‘We’re here today because we really don’t have a choice,’ she said. ‘Families continue to come into this country, continue to come to Massachusetts, and we have over the last several months opened up locations throughout the state.’

There are currently three larger state-operated overflow family shelter sites. The location in Roxbury, one of the city’s traditionally Black neighborhoods, is the fourth.

There are also smaller emergency shelter sites in about 90 communities.

Those using the overflow sites are among 656 families currently on a wait list hoping to get into the state’s emergency family shelter program.

Healey last year capped the number of people in the shelter program at 7,500 and created the wait list.

Healey and Boston Democratic mayor Wendy Wu have called on the Biden administration for more help in dealing with the influx of migrants.

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