Massachusetts governor declares emergency and urges help for migrants

Maura Healey calls on federal government to provide urgent action' as shelters housing migrants and refugees reach capacity

Massachusetts governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as shelters housing migrants and refugees reached capacity, and called on the federal government to help.

In a letter addressed to US secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey said: To our partners in the federal government, Massachusetts has stepped up to address what sadly has been a federal crisis of inaction that is many years in the making.