Dozens of Haitian migrants sleep outside Wollaston T station

QUINCY, Mass. — Dozens of Haitian migrants, most of whom are children, slept a second night outside the Wollaston MBTA station Tuesday as they wait for emergency shelter.

Forty-seven migrants slept on the street Monday night, Sam Kohler, volunteer for Boston Immigration Justice Accompaniment Network (BIJAN) told Boston 25 News, with at least that number expected to spend the night outside again on Tuesday night.

“We’ve got kids sleeping on the street, you know? And everybody else is going back to school,” Kohler said. “It’s uncomfortable, it’s dangerous.”

Wisler Sol, who spoke through a translator, said he waited for eight months in Mexico with his wife before getting approval to enter the United States. They walked to Texas before taking a bus to Boston and spending the first overnight inside Logan Airport.

Sol is now awaiting emergency shelter for himself, his wife and three kids.

“It was kind of cold in the middle of the night, and because of the kids, that was the only reason that it was difficult, because I have to keep watching over the kids and my wife,” Sol said of sleeping outside. “A little depressing because of the kids. The kids just don’t deserve that.”

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But Sol is grateful to be here, far away from the gang violence that has overrun his homeland.

“The condition in Haiti is dire. You can’t compare it,” Sol said. “Even though we’re sleeping outside, it’s a much better situation than what we have going on in Haiti.”

BIJAN and other groups have stepped in to help find temporary housing for homeless migrants whom the state cannot house as Massachusetts has exceeded its emergency shelter capacity.

But by Monday, BIJAN, funded by donations and grants, had run out of money. Many migrants who receive services during daytime hours from the state’s Quincy Family Welcome Center at nearby Eastern Nazarene College were returning to the Wollaston T stop by night to tuck their kids into bed on the sidewalk.

“I come here every day and try to be with people and play with their kids and let them know they’re not alone, and we feed them and whatnot,” Kohler said. “But… this is so far beyond myself or other volunteers.”

Kohler called on the state to do more to fund housing for the families.

“I’m happy to be here, I’ll continue to be here,” Kohler said. “We shouldn’t have to be doing this. The state should be doing this. We pay a lot of taxes, and I think we should be able to figure out how to keep kids off the street.”

At this time last year, Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency, calling on the federal government to expedite funding and work authorizations for migrants.

This summer, she sent members of her administration to the Southern border to warn migrant families of the lack of shelter available in Massachusetts.

A spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey told Boston 25 News Tuesday: “It’s terrible that families slept outside last night. We hope they will visit our Family Welcome Centers so that they can be referred to a Temporary Respite Center and connected with case management and other resources to help them identify their next steps.”

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