Dozens of migrant families spent the night outside the Wollaston MBTA station in Quincy, Massachusetts, on Monday.
Charitable groups said it’s a symptom of the lack of shelter space in the state and the result of new rules that went into effect earlier this month.
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The Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) said 47 people – about half of them children – were sleeping outside on the concrete floor, benches and on a lawn nearby.
It happened after the BIJAN ran out of money and were no longer able to sponsor their hotel rooms as they had for the past few nights.
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“There’s no space for us. You don’t do that. For me you don’t do that, it’s a lack of respect,” said Eisner Dervil, an immigrant from Haiti.
“Police got here early this morning and woke us up, telling us we couldn’t stay here,” said Wisler Sol, another Haitian immigrant.
Their presence was noticed by those passing by and living in the area.
“Somebody needs to do something,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “You have to care because this is a problem; children are involved.”
Fahema Rahman, an immigrant herself, learned about the families and decided to help out by donating food. She said she expects more from local leaders.
“Anyone’s babies should not be sleeping on the ground in America,” she said. “There are the smartest people in the country here we should be able to solve any problem.”
Last month the governor put an end to families sleeping at Logan Airport.
At the beginning of the month, she introduced tighter measures to ease the burden on the shelter system – which her office said has helped, helping 3,800 families receive work permits leading to an average of 330 families being able to leave the shelters. But it has also pushed out more than 200 families who aren’t considered priority.
“Unfortunately, it's turned out that it's really become really relying on volunteer support,” said BIJAN’s Annie Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said BIJAN used grant money and donations to place dozens of families who were pushed out of the state shelters into hotels for a few nights until their funds ran dry on Monday.
“There is a rainy day fund for emergencies that the state of Massachusetts has and I don't know what else they think constitutes an emergency, but to me, this seems like one,” she said.
The governor’s office issued this statement, saying: "It's terrible that families slept outside last night. We have asked the nonprofit assisting them to bring them to our family welcome centers today so that they can be referred to a temporary respite center."
But with no immediate lasting relief in sight, worry and the cooler weather are creeping in.
