Speaker 1: It's nice eyes.
Speaker 2: I'm going Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: Thanks very much. Al. There were a couple of articles,
Speaker 1: and the one in the Herald and one of them
Speaker 1: in the Globe today. They kind of were the same story,
Speaker 1: but a bit of a different take. Both of the
Speaker 1: stories suggested that we have finally come to a realization
Speaker 1: here in Massachusetts that maybe maybe we have bitten off
Speaker 1: more than we can chew. The headline of the Globe story,
Speaker 1: in sweeping changes to shelter policy, mass reflects other states
Speaker 1: navigating immigration debate. We've been talking about this now for
Speaker 1: a long time, a long time, and with us is
Speaker 1: State Representative Paul Frost. He's a Republican from Central Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: Home bases Auburn, Massachusetts. Welcome to nightside, Representative. How are
Speaker 1: you tonight.
Speaker 3: I'm doing well.
Speaker 4: Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1: I think you're doing better than our shelter system, that's
Speaker 1: for sure. Your district includes all of Auburn and all
Speaker 1: of Milbury to great towns right up by the mass
Speaker 1: turned bike in central Massachusetts, as well as a little
Speaker 1: bit of Oxford, Charlton and Lester. It's pronounced Lester right,
Speaker 1: all right. So we got that taken we got that
Speaker 1: taken care of. So you have been someone who has
Speaker 1: followed this story really closely. I actually was covering the
Speaker 1: story the day that Governor Decaucus in nineteen eighty three
Speaker 1: assigned what came to be known as the Right to
Speaker 1: Shelter Law here in Massachusetts in nineteen eighty three. And
Speaker 1: here we are, I don't want to say it, but
Speaker 1: it's forty one years later, and we're in a world
Speaker 1: of hurt right now. How did we get from a
Speaker 1: piece of legislation signed by Micrococcus in nineteen eighty three,
Speaker 1: which was intended to help women and uh and and
Speaker 1: pregnant women and women with children who were in oftentimes
Speaker 1: situations of domestic dispute or whatever, from you know, to
Speaker 1: help those individuals here in Massachusetts. How do we get
Speaker 1: to where we are today, where we're spending a billion
Speaker 1: dollars a year on sheltering people who have come here
Speaker 1: from far away lands looking for help.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, it's a great question. And but the
Speaker 4: way the Right in the Shelter Law was, you know,
Speaker 4: was written, was really, as you said, was intended to
Speaker 4: help people who were local to Massachusetts, people who ran
Speaker 4: into hard time families who ran into hard times, and
Speaker 4: we didn't want them living you know, in the alleyway
Speaker 4: or in their cars. You know, you want to get
Speaker 4: them some sort of emergency shelter, especially if they had,
Speaker 4: you know, obviously with children involved or like you said,
Speaker 4: pregnant women involved, and and and uh and it's now
Speaker 4: kind of morphed into this. You can show up for
Speaker 4: one day in Massachusetts from out of state, out of
Speaker 4: country and claim that you need a place to stay,
Speaker 4: you need emergency shelter, and you'll be granted some sort
Speaker 4: of assistance. And it's gotten crazy, it's gotten out of hand.
Speaker 4: It was out of control, and it's still you know,
Speaker 4: it still is and it's it's unsustainable. And that's what
Speaker 4: we were saying, you know, almost a year ago, and
Speaker 4: nothing is really changed and as far as as far
Speaker 4: as what's been happening, and so it's it's been it's
Speaker 4: you know, that's not what the system was meant for,
Speaker 4: you know, for you to be here for a day.
Speaker 4: And you know, when the governor did put in a
Speaker 4: a sort of a cap back in November on the
Speaker 4: emergency shelter shelter, she was still taking in people and
Speaker 4: giving them overflow shelter places, so places at the border
Speaker 4: continuing to send them here, I mean groups at the
Speaker 4: border continuing to send these families here because they know
Speaker 4: they'll get some sort of help. And in meanwhile, they
Speaker 4: created a waiting list, and that waiting list pitted people
Speaker 4: who have been a resident of Massachusetts for years and
Speaker 4: years and years against against those who are coming from
Speaker 4: out of state, out of country and who have only
Speaker 4: been here a day, and competing for those spots, uh
Speaker 4: limited spots that were left in the emergency shelter systems. So,
Speaker 4: you know, and that was wrong. So it's just it's
Speaker 4: just been a comedy of errors that could have been
Speaker 4: resolved a long time ago. But I know myself and
Speaker 4: my members of my Republican caucus in the House and
Speaker 4: the Senate, you know, are are pleased with with some
Speaker 4: of the changes the governor's making. We're gonna still have
Speaker 4: to see how some of this stuff works out, but
Speaker 4: but it's by much a step in the right direction,
Speaker 4: uh than than there was when when everything we've been
Speaker 4: doing and saying and calling for, including you know, filing
Speaker 4: amendments on the House floor and the Senate floor, have
Speaker 4: gone uh, you know, just you know, you know, no
Speaker 4: one's been listening to them, and they've been voting a.
Speaker 1: Question that I've never asked anyone before, but I think
Speaker 1: it's important. It's an important question, and that is we
Speaker 1: hear the stories about people who have crossed the border.
Speaker 1: They come from. I think it's one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: countries around the world, literally literally, very many of them
Speaker 1: do not speak a word of English, and if they
Speaker 1: do speak a word of English, it's probably yes, no,
Speaker 1: and a couple of other words that they might know.
Speaker 1: How are they so fortunate to find their way to Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming there must be a structure in place for
Speaker 1: these yes or souls?
Speaker 4: So what happened?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 4: What what's happening with? And it's kind of like a
Speaker 4: two tiered issue here that kind of branches off from
Speaker 4: each other. Or what you have is is that you
Speaker 4: have the group of folks that have come here and
Speaker 4: are using the Family Emergency Shelter. Uh, there are folks
Speaker 4: that the Biden administration allowed, you know, they're applying for asylum,
Speaker 4: they priding for refugee status, and under the previous administration
Speaker 4: or the Trump administration, you had to wait it out
Speaker 4: in Mexico or another or your home country, right, and
Speaker 4: then you got approval to come over once your paperwork
Speaker 4: was done and everything was processed, and you could then
Speaker 4: come over, get your work permit and then you know,
Speaker 4: come to you go wherever you want in the United States.
Speaker 4: What's happening is the Biden administration is letting them in
Speaker 4: if they if they come for one of these refugee countries,
Speaker 4: uh status countries, and they they can come in and claim,
Speaker 4: you know, ask for asylum, which can take years to happen,
Speaker 4: by the way, and then they.
Speaker 1: Go to getting correct me if I'm wrong, but if
Speaker 1: they get in court dates that are seven, eight, ten
Speaker 1: years out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's my understanding, but you know, years out.
Speaker 4: But yeah, they're coming in and without work permits either
Speaker 4: the FASI istting them in and they're giving but they're
Speaker 4: giving them lawful permission to be here. So that's a
Speaker 4: bit of a difference between the people who are coming
Speaker 4: over legally and then sneaking in and then coming to
Speaker 4: Massachusetts and other places. These folks are coming in and
Speaker 4: they have lawful presence now because they have lawful presence
Speaker 4: from the Biden administration. What happens is these groups like
Speaker 4: Catholic charities. Maybe the governor of Texas what have you,
Speaker 4: takes these folks and says, hey, look, if you go
Speaker 4: to Massachusetts, the entire state has a right to shelter
Speaker 4: the law. They're going to give you benefits and a
Speaker 4: place to live. They'll give you a better shelter than
Speaker 4: you would here in Texas or somewhere else, and you
Speaker 4: just have to get there and we'll and we'll help
Speaker 4: you get there. And that's why that group has come here,
Speaker 4: and that's why they overloaded our shelter system. And then,
Speaker 4: you know, less than a year now if you take
Speaker 4: the other side of it, which is another group of
Speaker 4: folks that are coming across illegally and they're not stopping
Speaker 4: and getting there and they're just coming here. And then
Speaker 4: you know, they they come into Massachusetts. And that's a
Speaker 4: whole other issue. And that's been an issue for a
Speaker 4: very long time. But the one kind of key thing
Speaker 4: here about because the Biden administration gives them a lawful
Speaker 4: presence instead of making them wait in Mexico or where
Speaker 4: else their home country because he's letting him in. What
Speaker 4: happens is they have that lawful presence document. Because they
Speaker 4: have that lawful presence document. They're not considered undocumented, they're
Speaker 4: not considered illegal, so that's what makes them eligible for
Speaker 4: the emergency shelter program. If they were illegal, like as
Speaker 4: we understand it, undocumented, they would not be eligible for
Speaker 4: the family Emergency Shelter system. That's why it hasn't blown
Speaker 4: up before because we've always had illegal immigration coming to
Speaker 4: Massachusetts and elsewhere. And that's a whole issue as well.
Speaker 4: Quote incentives and things that Massachusetts does and other states
Speaker 4: do that you know, makes it an attractive place for
Speaker 4: illegal immigrants to want to come here. But these folks
Speaker 4: are being sent here by groups at the border, you know,
Speaker 4: Catholic Charity is one of them, because they know they're
Speaker 4: going to get taken care of. And we had to
Speaker 4: try to We needed to cut that the incentive off
Speaker 4: a long time ago, like ten eleven, twelve months ago,
Speaker 4: and and and we did it, and and we made efforts.
Speaker 4: In November, I filed several amendments and one of them
Speaker 4: was a ah A residency requirement in order to apply
Speaker 4: for for it. If I did I did so again
Speaker 4: in in March, and I did so again in April
Speaker 4: to say, look, and you got to be here for
Speaker 4: twelve months and I made it to six months, and
Speaker 4: I made it three month. You know, you had have
Speaker 4: been here for a period of time. You can't just
Speaker 4: get these benefits of the day you show up. And
Speaker 4: we tried to do things on the waiting list. Representative
Speaker 4: Brad Jones, our House minority leader, filed an amendment during
Speaker 4: our budget debate that said, hey, look it if if
Speaker 4: if you're you know, on the waiting list. You know,
Speaker 4: is that, Hey, if you're on a waiting list and
Speaker 4: you have veteran status, you should be able to get priority.
Speaker 4: And we have that for everything else, right, Veterans get
Speaker 4: that for housing authorities, everything else. But but we put
Speaker 4: that on the floor the speaker, I was a co
Speaker 4: sponsor of that amendment. Representative Jones put that on the floor,
Speaker 4: spoke on it, and uh, you know, it was voted
Speaker 4: down overwhelmingly. All the Republicans voted for it, but voted
Speaker 4: down overwhelmingly.
Speaker 1: So the Democrats essentially voted in unison to prevent.
Speaker 4: I believe, I believe there was a in fairness. I
Speaker 4: believe there was a few Democrats who crossed over and
Speaker 4: supported our proposal, but it was overwhelmingly opposition by the Democrats,
Speaker 4: and and to do that and then come find out
Speaker 4: the governor put our provision into the UH into her
Speaker 4: new reform that she just released.
Speaker 1: I mean, but give it credit for that. We need
Speaker 1: to take a quick break Paul here. I know I've
Speaker 1: thrown a lot at you, and you responded really well
Speaker 1: and given us information, even things I didn't quite realize.
Speaker 1: You brought it into focus. I assume Catholic Charities has
Speaker 1: has some sort of a financial benefit of being involved here.
Speaker 4: Correct that that I can't I can't speak to that.
Speaker 4: I don't you know, I don't know the ins and
Speaker 4: outs of that, so I don't want to say anything
Speaker 4: that I have.
Speaker 1: Read that they basically as an expeditor for all of this,
Speaker 1: are compensated because obviously people have to to put them
Speaker 1: in a shelter in Massachusetts. They have to physically get
Speaker 1: from here, you know, from Texas to here. So that's that.
Speaker 1: But we can we'll we'll love to have someone on
Speaker 1: from Catholic Charities tonight some night and talk about that.
Speaker 1: Will take quick break. My guest is Paul Frost. At
Speaker 1: this point, we are spending billions of dollars, a billion
Speaker 1: dollars a year to house migrants here in Massachusetts, and
Speaker 1: I don't see where it's going to stop. That's would
Speaker 1: be my next area of questions with State representing Paul Frost.
Speaker 1: If you'd like to join the conversation, feel free, uh
Speaker 1: six one seven, four ten thirty six one seven, nine
Speaker 1: three one ten thirty. We'll get you in as well
Speaker 1: as triple eight nine to nine, ten thirty. My name
Speaker 1: is Dan Ray. We are having a conversation here on
Speaker 1: a Friday night. I think it's important and we're going
Speaker 1: to continue with this. I think, I hope into the
Speaker 1: next hour or so because it's kind of a movie
Speaker 1: target and I want to understand it better so I
Speaker 1: can make consider judgments, and I hope you do as well.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back on night Side.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 2: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 1: My guest the state represented Paul Frost. He's a Republican
Speaker 1: from a Republican from Auburn. He also has been appointed
Speaker 1: to a committee to study this situation. He bipartisan committee.
Speaker 1: What do you what do you hope this committee is
Speaker 1: going to achieve or accomplish?
Speaker 4: So it's a Special Commission regarding this emergency Family Shelter crisis,
Speaker 4: and we will see. You know, we just had our
Speaker 4: first meeting last week and it was just more of
Speaker 4: an introductory meeting. I know, Senator Fatman who I am,
Speaker 4: Senator Ryan Fatman who I am on this commission with
Speaker 4: from the Republican side, you know, are hoping to get across.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of the things that some of
Speaker 4: these things that have already now have happened that the
Speaker 4: Governor's announced, but to talk about we needed we need
Speaker 4: to stop the spigot, you know, to keep it from
Speaker 4: continuing to grow out of control. And you know, you
Speaker 4: need to stop the influx and and then you know,
Speaker 4: otherwise it's just never going to stop. And uh so, well,
Speaker 4: but and now some of this new information that's come out,
Speaker 4: and I think the Commission will probably be talking about
Speaker 4: that and seeing how that's going to be implemented and
Speaker 4: see if are the costs going to get shifted to
Speaker 4: other other parts of the budget. Are they going to
Speaker 4: there going to be other expenses? I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: how are these how we basically going to tell folks, sorry,
Speaker 4: we're full, you know, if you want to stay, we
Speaker 4: have no place for you, but you might be better off,
Speaker 4: you know, going somewhere else. And and until you do that, really,
Speaker 4: until you do that, then these groups at the border
Speaker 4: aren't going to stop sending them here and and uh
Speaker 4: and and that's been my issue all along. I mean
Speaker 4: I even shut down a session for like three days
Speaker 4: in December because of this, because they wouldn't include any
Speaker 4: form reforms but they wanted to spend money that stole
Speaker 4: Christmas read yes yes, yes, yes yeah for three straight days.
Speaker 4: I Uh, I held up session with other members of
Speaker 4: the Republican Caucus and uh and and uh because you
Speaker 4: were like, look, you know, we want either want to
Speaker 4: roll call vote on this final bill or or we
Speaker 4: want you to put in reforms that that are that
Speaker 4: are necessary to put a stop to it. And and
Speaker 4: they wouldn't do either. And eventually, because we were an
Speaker 4: informal session time of year, the Democrats had to show
Speaker 4: up with over eighty one members to to push it through,
Speaker 4: and they eventually did. But because they didn't want to
Speaker 4: have a debate, they didn't want to call us back
Speaker 4: for a formal session, they didn't want to have a
Speaker 4: roll call vote, or they didn't want to you know,
Speaker 4: send it back to the committee and come out with
Speaker 4: some sort of meaningful reform to put a stop to it.
Speaker 4: And and uh, and here we are.
Speaker 1: I want to I want to go to phone calls,
Speaker 1: but I got to kill litle other questions along the way.
Speaker 1: The folks who are going to after is it now
Speaker 1: nine months are going to be in effect? I should
Speaker 1: out of the centers, which I therefore I assume is
Speaker 1: that that is that the number that the governor's talking about.
Speaker 1: Do they get nine months?
Speaker 4: So it is the stuff that you got people in
Speaker 4: these overflow shelters and and and that are waiting for
Speaker 4: for like the hotel stage if you will, you know,
Speaker 4: the more the longer term stays. And then they did
Speaker 4: pass this bill that that myself and others voted against
Speaker 4: because again they didn't want to put meaningful reforms in
Speaker 4: the stop it. They will try to put a caveat
Speaker 4: on like not a cab yeah sorry, put a put
Speaker 4: a cap on how long people could stay in the hotels.
Speaker 4: But then they made all these sort of exemptions and
Speaker 4: then and then you could apply for you know, oh,
Speaker 4: you could apply for stay longer, stay longer, stay longer.
Speaker 4: You know. Ultimately, how that's going to happen. I mean,
Speaker 4: one of the things to Dan what I want to know,
Speaker 4: and we haven't got answers to yet, is these folks
Speaker 4: that some of these folks have now got employment, but
Speaker 4: they're still living in the hotels. So it's like, Okay,
Speaker 4: are these people that are getting employment, are they going
Speaker 4: to be able to afford and they're going to be
Speaker 4: able to form market rate housing right? Or are they
Speaker 4: going to need some sort of affordable subsidized housing that's
Speaker 4: already in demand as it is. So is there going
Speaker 4: to be another sort of uh roadblock if you will,
Speaker 4: up ahead where where we've already got a strain on
Speaker 4: the system to get affordable housing for folks and subsidized
Speaker 4: housing for folks, are they going to be entering that
Speaker 4: system and and and and and and really causing more
Speaker 4: of a bottleneck is probably the better term I should
Speaker 4: be using. And and uh, you know, we don't know
Speaker 4: the answer to that yet, but I you know, are
Speaker 4: are these folks able to get gainful employment to get
Speaker 4: out of the hotels with their families and and uh
Speaker 4: and get and get.
Speaker 1: Jobs be able to market Here's what I'm thinking, representative
Speaker 1: what gainful employment can these folks get I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: God love them. They don't bring necessarily any professional skills,
Speaker 1: so they're going to be working at best at minimum
Speaker 1: wage jobs. I assume, what a mess. What a mess.
Speaker 1: Let's do this. Let's let's get some phone calls going here.
Speaker 1: People are waiting, so if you're if you're up, We've
Speaker 1: got full lines. I'd love to get some of these
Speaker 1: folks on the end. Let me go first off, to
Speaker 1: let me get to where I want to get to. Here.
Speaker 1: Jack is in Plymouth. Jack, I'm gonna get your name
Speaker 1: be from the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: You're first on with state Represented Paul Frost talking about
Speaker 1: the migrant shelter crisis here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Ahead, Jack, Yeah, Hey, Dan, Hey, Representative Frost. I'm calling
Speaker 3: in from Plymouth here, and I'm just really really encouraged
Speaker 3: to hear this conversation, particularly as it relates to the
Speaker 3: role of the Republican Party here in this crisis, because
Speaker 3: just hearing what Rep. Frost was saying, the amount of
Speaker 3: action that the Republican Caucus has taken on Beacon Hill
Speaker 3: is really really, really encouraging. And if anybody knows how
Speaker 3: Beacon Hill is run. It's totally controlled by the Speaker
Speaker 3: of the House and the Senate President. And the idea
Speaker 3: that Governor Healy has basically taken word for word a
Speaker 3: mirror image of what the Republicans have been proposing for months,
Speaker 3: is a testament to those sort of experienced leaders in
Speaker 3: the Republican caucus that have been advocating for so so long.
Speaker 3: And what really ticked me off actually is I was
Speaker 3: thinking about this, and this is why I called in,
Speaker 3: is I know folks in my neck of the woods,
Speaker 3: like Matt murratory Susan Gifford, are facing primaries where they're
Speaker 3: being accused of being rhinos, when in fact it's totally
Speaker 3: the opposite. They're the ones who have been on Beacon
Speaker 3: Hill fighting the good fight, and their words and their actions,
Speaker 3: their proposals, their speeches on the House floor have been
Speaker 3: the impetus for the governor to finally wake up from
Speaker 3: whatever crazy slumber she's been in to actually start to
Speaker 3: turn the tide on this issue in our state. So
Speaker 3: why why I called in, to be totally honest with you,
Speaker 3: is I'm set up with people calling our Republican leaders
Speaker 3: in Deacon Hill rhinos, and you know, somehow, you know,
Speaker 3: we look.
Speaker 1: Look the fact. The fact of the matter is, Jack,
Speaker 1: when you think about it, I think it's twenty five
Speaker 1: members in the House. Correct me. If I'm wrong in
Speaker 1: these numbers, you would know them better than I would
Speaker 1: call twenty five members out of one sixty in the
Speaker 1: House of Representatives, that's correct, and four I think in
Speaker 1: the State Senate that's correct. So that's ten percent of
Speaker 1: the State Senate. And it's I don't know one sixth
Speaker 1: in the House of Representatives. It's a small group. And
Speaker 1: you know, fratracide is supposed to be illegal, and it
Speaker 1: sounds like it's a circular firing squad, and why anybody
Speaker 1: is trying to take people out? And further we can
Speaker 1: you know the second part. We need a two party
Speaker 1: state in Massachusetts. It's as simple as that. And anyone
Speaker 1: who doesn't understand that obviously doesn't understand the way politics
Speaker 1: are supposed to work. A little bit of a checks
Speaker 1: and a balance. And congratulations to you, Paul for what
Speaker 1: you and your colleagues have done. And Jack, hopefully people
Speaker 1: will listen to what you have to say, and that is,
Speaker 1: you know, the Republicans don't get any stronger and the
Speaker 1: second party in Massachusetts, which is the Republican Party, doesn't
Speaker 1: get any stronger when we have fresh acide going on
Speaker 1: within the Republican Party.
Speaker 3: It's time to unite behind the people fighting the good fight.
Speaker 3: It's so important. We cannot be taking out the people
Speaker 3: that have experienced and have delivered results on these issues.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's also time to try to
Speaker 1: grow the party and make people realize that, hey, a
Speaker 1: little competition is going to be good up at the
Speaker 1: state House, because obviously things are run up thereby as
Speaker 1: you said, the Speaker and the Senate President and even
Speaker 1: most of the Democrats in the legislature. They just have
Speaker 1: to move along like a group of cattle. We're going
Speaker 1: over here. Boys. Let's go boys and girls. Anyway, they'll
Speaker 1: get me going on that. I just think we need
Speaker 1: a second party in Massachusetts. That and we have one.
Speaker 1: And I would hope that some people would look at
Speaker 1: rational people who are running as Republicans and say, hey,
Speaker 1: maybe it's time to have two parties in Massachusetts. So
Speaker 1: one party state, and we're not doing well by if
Speaker 1: people are leaving this state in droves from everything we've read.
Speaker 1: But anyway, but I want to get off that bandwagon
Speaker 1: and thank you for the call, Jack. I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, thank you, Jack. Yeah, you know, I wanted to say,
Speaker 4: I would you want to give a shout out, you
Speaker 4: know to Representative of Matt Moore Toy. He's running for
Speaker 4: State Senate and that's a big seat that we can
Speaker 4: win as Republicans, and he's been, you know, on the
Speaker 4: side of this issue as as Representative Sdue Gifford, wh's
Speaker 4: a fellow member of House Publican leadership with me, and uh,
Speaker 4: you know, and they've always been there when I've been
Speaker 4: you know, pushing these amendments to put a residency requirement in,
Speaker 4: They've always had to support them and to vote for
Speaker 4: them and advocate for them. And it's it's it's truly
Speaker 4: uh important that we have those voices because look, it's like,
Speaker 4: you know, I don't think what we're talking about right
Speaker 4: now is hey, see we told your show so uh
Speaker 4: ha ha. No, It's like, look, see, if you listen
Speaker 4: to what's earlier, we could avoided a lot of this
Speaker 4: heartache and saved a lot of money. And we told
Speaker 4: you this was going to happen, and and we're here
Speaker 4: to offer solutions, not just say no to everything, and
Speaker 4: and and and that's what we're here for, and that's
Speaker 4: what we're doing. And I do also want to thank
Speaker 4: the Master up Amy Carnival. He's been doing a fantastic
Speaker 4: job for us and and and in talking about what
Speaker 4: we're pushing on and what we're pushing out uh and
Speaker 4: as Republicans in the state legislature and uh and and
Speaker 4: we really had a really good relationship in doing that
Speaker 4: and then trying to inform the voters of what's happening
Speaker 4: and what's going on at Deacon Hill and and that
Speaker 4: that yes, you're minority party is doing stuff, is taking
Speaker 4: is fighting the good fight, and isn't afraid to and
Speaker 4: that's we're up to.
Speaker 1: So all right, well, I'm not afraid to take the
Speaker 1: news at the bottom of the hour. And we got
Speaker 1: to do that and we get back. The only line
Speaker 1: we have open is six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 1: ten thirty. Look, this is a very important issue, and
Speaker 1: I think the Democrats have bungled it in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: UH.
Speaker 1: And we're in trouble for this is another problem we
Speaker 1: have in Massachusetts. We have been outstrategized by some of
Speaker 1: the Republican governors down south who said, hey, you're you're
Speaker 1: a sanctuary state. We got some people who need sanctuary,
Speaker 1: and we're all paying for it, and there's going to
Speaker 1: be impact on school systems. I know that Representative Frost
Speaker 1: has a hotel in his district. We talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about that, but more importantly, want to hear from
Speaker 1: all of you. We'll be back on Nightside right after
Speaker 1: the news at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 2: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 1: All right, we're going back to the phones. My guest
Speaker 1: is Paul Representative Paul Frost. He's a Republican from Auburn, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: We're talking about the migrant shelter problems that now I
Speaker 1: think everyone in Massachusetts is acknowledging. Let's go to Robert
Speaker 1: and Charlton. That is what Mark does all the time, folks,
Speaker 1: and we just sometimes my patience runs thin. Robert and Charlton,
Speaker 1: you're on with state Representative Paul Frost. Go ahead, Robert.
Speaker 5: Well, what I wanted to call about was I think
Speaker 5: that as much as we might be happy with Mari
Speaker 5: Healy's decision, it didn't happen in a vacuum. It's not
Speaker 5: just oh well, the situation got really bad, and so
Speaker 5: she decided id better do something about it. It happened
Speaker 5: in concert with the Republicans making the case that hey,
Speaker 5: not only is this a problem, but it's also something
Speaker 5: that we have a solution for. And it kept presenting solutions,
Speaker 5: you know. Paul Frost suggested, hey, let's put a six
Speaker 5: months residency requirement. Democrats said no. He said three month
Speaker 5: residency requirement. Democrats said no. But the thing is, instead
Speaker 5: of just saying well, they're rejecting my solution, he offered
Speaker 5: another more mild solution. Well, sure that you can accept this.
Speaker 5: And when you have an opposition party actually making the
Speaker 5: case against whatever policy is being pursued, they can really
Speaker 5: highlight the fact that whatever problem is going on didn't
Speaker 5: happen because it's a force of nature that there's nothing
Speaker 5: you can do about. But it's the direct results of policies,
Speaker 5: policies that we have here but not in other states.
Speaker 5: And if you don't make the investment in a strong
Speaker 5: opposition party by getting people elected and backing them up,
Speaker 5: you're going to have a situation where there's just one narrative.
Speaker 5: And even if people think no, that doesn't add up.
Speaker 5: There isn't an alternative to put pressure on him. And
Speaker 5: so if you want to see good results, you have
Speaker 5: to make long term investments and you can't just get mad,
Speaker 5: yell at the TV and see a change.
Speaker 1: It's uh my, what my concern is, and I want
Speaker 1: Paul to addressed this as well. But my concern is
Speaker 1: when these folks are are basically told that they have
Speaker 1: to leave the shelter because they've been there so long,
Speaker 1: how are they going to survive? They've they've come here,
Speaker 1: they've been sent here, they've been brought here. What's next, Paul,
Speaker 1: for for these poor souls who have come here under
Speaker 1: the impression that we're going to be a sanctuary city.
Speaker 1: I remember a sanctuary state. I remember that Governor Healey
Speaker 1: and Lieutenant Governor Driscoll made a plea for people to
Speaker 1: take the pressure off the shelter system and to bring
Speaker 1: people into their homes, into their spare rooms and their
Speaker 1: spare bedrooms. I don't think there's been a lot of
Speaker 1: people who have who have offered that. What's next? Do
Speaker 1: they just get turned out in the streets, or as
Speaker 1: you say, do they then get on some sort of
Speaker 1: other public relief system? Uh? Here in Massachusetts, which will
Speaker 1: just raise the cost. Uh, the taxpayers will have to
Speaker 1: pay to support people who can't support themselves.
Speaker 4: And you know, it's a million dollar question. And uh,
Speaker 4: you know, don't have the answer of that yet. And
Speaker 4: I hopefully, being on this special Commission, will be able
Speaker 4: to address that and uh and and ask those questions,
Speaker 4: what's gonna happen? How is this all going to work?
Speaker 4: Where are they going to go, you know, whether they
Speaker 4: get jobs or not? What? How is this? Is it
Speaker 4: going to come up the system somewhere else in as
Speaker 4: far as the housing market goes, and especially when it
Speaker 4: comes to affordable and subsidized housing, And how is it
Speaker 4: gonn affect market rate housing? I mean, you know, if
Speaker 4: you only have so much limited housing supply as it is,
Speaker 4: and now you're adding more demand for it, uh across
Speaker 4: the you know, across the different types of across the spectrum,
Speaker 4: then what not going to do? And and I think
Speaker 4: those questions are still yet to be answered and how
Speaker 4: they're going to how it's going to be handled. And
Speaker 4: that's not you said. That's why a lot of our
Speaker 4: emphasis early on has been about two things. One, how
Speaker 4: do we stop off? You know, we stopped this from
Speaker 4: continuing to happen, to shut off the spigot so the
Speaker 4: problem doesn't get any worse. And then the second thing was, Okay,
Speaker 4: how about these people on the waiting list. You know,
Speaker 4: we should be taking people like veterans or you know,
Speaker 4: which we're going to do now, but you know, and
Speaker 4: other people from Massachusetts who've been here a very long time.
Speaker 4: You know, they should get priority in any sort of
Speaker 4: waiting list, and that, you know, we look like we're
Speaker 4: getting closer to that as well. But so those are
Speaker 4: kind of our areas that we've been trying to address.
Speaker 4: And obviously the federal issues involved and stuff like that
Speaker 4: about the border and what to do. And you know,
Speaker 4: if they, if they, if they, if a lot of
Speaker 4: these families had to remain in Mexico or or their
Speaker 4: home countries, then we would not be having the issues
Speaker 4: we are having now. But that's more than just a
Speaker 4: FED giving us money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, they're not giving us much anymore. And when
Speaker 1: they give you know, again, people say the Fed's giving
Speaker 1: us money, but you you guys, you both know and
Speaker 1: and I know that all the FEDS does is take
Speaker 1: our money from us. In Washington, they basically take whatever
Speaker 1: they want to run the federal government, and then they
Speaker 1: send us a little money back. It's not like they're
Speaker 1: giving us anything returning money that we know.
Speaker 4: They're getting us much back at all for this issue.
Speaker 4: That's another whole problem. And look at, look at I
Speaker 4: was just talking to one of my colleagues on the
Speaker 4: State Committee and UH, and he was telling me how
Speaker 4: bad the traffic was a weekend or so ago with
Speaker 4: UH Vice President Kamala Harris UH Motorcate holding up roots
Speaker 4: six and and I said, well, geez, I said to
Speaker 4: all them like, oh my goodness, I said, you know,
Speaker 4: I mean too bad. She couldn't gum up the border
Speaker 4: as the as the czar as he did the traffic
Speaker 4: on the Cape cod But I mean it's it's just,
Speaker 4: you know, but they come here, you know, Kamala Harrison,
Speaker 4: Joe Biden, they have a problem coming here to raise money,
Speaker 4: but they don't seem to want to do anything about
Speaker 4: the shelter crisis and the and the problem that you know,
Speaker 4: they basically caused by their policies. And now we're you know,
Speaker 4: and now you know, we need to say no, no, no, sorry,
Speaker 4: this is not what our system was meant for. Uh,
Speaker 4: don't send everybody here because we're gonna have to We're
Speaker 4: gonna have to shut off the system for out people
Speaker 4: from people out of state or people, you know, basically
Speaker 4: people out of state, people out of country. So how
Speaker 4: that we got to do?
Speaker 1: All right, Robert, thank you for your call. I appreciate
Speaker 1: your your thoughts tonight. Thank you, sir. Thanks, You're welcome,
Speaker 1: Paul Frost. We got one more segment coming up. We'll
Speaker 1: get to all the callers if we got a couple
Speaker 1: of open lines. Still at six, one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 1: four to ten thirty back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 2: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 2: night Side Studios.
Speaker 1: On w b Z, the news radio. Okay, guts full lines.
Speaker 1: Try to get everybody in here as quickly as we can.
Speaker 1: Let me go to Linda in Ipswich. Linda, you're next
Speaker 1: one nights.
Speaker 6: I go ahead, Hey Dan, how you doing good?
Speaker 1: Linda? What's on your mind?
Speaker 6: Okay? I've been living in Ipswich at the Housing Authority
Speaker 6: since April eleven, two thousand and eight. I have been
Speaker 6: allotted six hours a week for housekeeping. In the last
Speaker 6: eighteen weeks, nobody's shown up. Therefore, they are putting me out.
Speaker 6: So I don't even have a car to live in,
Speaker 6: and I'm really concerned. For fourteen years or so, everything
Speaker 6: works fine, and now all of a sudden, I'm not desirable.
Speaker 4: Why you don't like living?
Speaker 6: I don't because for aken weeks nobody's come to do housekeeping.
Speaker 6: I am disabled. I cannot take my own Linde again.
Speaker 1: So you're being put out because no how house keeper
Speaker 1: has come and and and they're blaming you. Uh, let
Speaker 1: me ask you, Representative Frost, hold on, Linda, Let's try
Speaker 1: to get a solution for you.
Speaker 6: And sure I'm not the only one that's going through.
Speaker 1: Hold on, Linda, Linda, take it down a step. Representative
Speaker 1: Frost Frost, what should Linda do? She lives in Ipswich,
Speaker 1: She's not in your district. Any suggestion or idea for her?
Speaker 4: I mean, one of the things you can do is
Speaker 4: maybe you know, reach out to your legislators and and
Speaker 4: uh and you know, ask them to to make a
Speaker 4: call to the housing authority and maybe even call the
Speaker 4: state housing and and and see what what's actually going
Speaker 4: on here and under what you know, under why what provisions?
Speaker 4: They have to do this without having more information and
Speaker 4: everything else. I can't say exactly what will happen, but
Speaker 4: I think that's a place to start. If you've already
Speaker 4: dealt with your housing authority, is is maybe reach out
Speaker 4: to your state legislators and they can talk about So.
Speaker 1: Now here's the problem. Lind's going to have Linda, who
Speaker 1: is your state senator? Who is your state representative? I'll
Speaker 1: bet you you.
Speaker 5: Don't know, right, No, I don't just gonna okay.
Speaker 1: Hold on, represent right, I'm gonna ask you if you
Speaker 1: could have someone in your office, even though she's not
Speaker 1: in your district, to call Linda on Monday and find
Speaker 1: out for her who her state representative and state senators are.
Speaker 1: Would that be Yeah, we can.
Speaker 4: We can absolutely do that if you can relay that
Speaker 4: information to you.
Speaker 1: What I'm gonna do is they're gonna have Linda leave
Speaker 1: her number with Rob, and when we finish our conversation
Speaker 1: at ten o'clock, I want Rob to give you her number,
Speaker 1: and Linda, you stay by your phone on Monday and
Speaker 1: we'll get you a call and we'll find out for
Speaker 1: you who your state rep and who your state senator is.
Speaker 6: Okay, Oh, well, thank you man, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, Uh you give your number to Rob
Speaker 1: and we'll keep rolling on here. Let me go next
Speaker 1: to I lean in, Hell, I lean. We're a little
Speaker 1: tight on time, and I want to get you in
Speaker 1: under the wire. Go ahead, I lean. H. Well, thank you.
Speaker 5: I My big concern is that.
Speaker 7: The dollars are being taken from other state programs. And uh,
Speaker 7: this Linda's story just ahead of me is very, very sad.
Speaker 7: I happen to have a son who's in the mental
Speaker 7: health system, and they that that's the Department of Mental Health.
Speaker 7: I think it gets gets money cut before anybody else.
Speaker 7: And so he's he he really shouldn't even be in
Speaker 7: the Department of Mental Health. He should have been rehabilitated already.
Speaker 7: He's perfectly capable of going out to work and and
Speaker 7: but he needs help getting, you know, to get started
Speaker 7: with this.
Speaker 1: But now, I mean, that's that's a huge question. This
Speaker 1: late in the hour, I really kind of open that
Speaker 1: can of worms. You know, we've done We've talked about
Speaker 1: this before. We'll talk about it again. And I think
Speaker 1: it's good that you made Representative Frost aware of it. Okay,
Speaker 1: I will say.
Speaker 4: I will say that you know that this is an
Speaker 4: issue about priorities and when you talk about spending and
Speaker 4: you talk about allocating resources, and one of the things is,
Speaker 4: you know, one of my issues, and you know, people
Speaker 4: want to read about what happened in December of twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three. You can go to my website at Paul
Speaker 4: Frost dot com, like at the article right that you
Speaker 4: can read it. But when is that one of the
Speaker 4: things that we were talking about with Look, we're going
Speaker 4: to spend one hundreds millions of dollars back then. That
Speaker 4: was that was like the first spending ask whether with
Speaker 4: a request for more coming at that time. And meanwhile
Speaker 4: the governor a month later does nine sea cuts. She starts,
Speaker 4: you know, because the revenues are down for that year,
Speaker 4: so or reading expectation. So you know, one of the
Speaker 4: things she cut she cut all these fire safety grants
Speaker 4: and grants for senior center. One of one of the
Speaker 4: rants that she cut was money I got in the
Speaker 4: state budget last year for the Auburn Fire Department for
Speaker 4: our turnout gear. It was fifty thousand dollars grant. They
Speaker 4: cut it in half. The twenty five thousand dollars. Arbor
Speaker 4: is a host community. That's that's that has, like you said,
Speaker 4: as a whole hotel dedicated to this this migrant crisis,
Speaker 4: and she cut half the the money for their turnout gear.
Speaker 4: So it is an issue about priorities and where money
Speaker 4: is gonna come from and where money is going to go.
Speaker 4: And yes, a lot of the money that they're spending,
Speaker 4: the billions so they're spending right now, some of it
Speaker 4: is one taime revenues that's going away, that's going to
Speaker 4: go away, and and and it's going to be a
Speaker 4: bigger problem come next year. And I think that's maybe
Speaker 4: another reason why we're seeing the Republican getting, you know,
Speaker 4: not the Republican, the governor getting the picture from the
Speaker 4: Republicans to maybe start doing something more meaningful.
Speaker 1: Ali, thanks for calling and raising that issue. It's an
Speaker 1: important issue. We'll continue to talk about it, you know that. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you, Eileen.
Speaker 7: Well, thank you for the response from Representative Frost.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: Thank you. We are flat out of time, Paul the
Speaker 1: hour flu for the callers on the line, stay there.
Speaker 1: I want to continue to talk about this next hour,
Speaker 1: So you stay right there and we will get to
Speaker 1: you as soon as we get through the news. Paul Frost.
Speaker 1: How can folks reach you at the state House if
Speaker 1: they want to try to support the work you're doing?
Speaker 1: What would you How can they get in touch with you?
Speaker 4: Sure, if they like to reach out to me, they
Speaker 4: can reach out at I have an email at Paul
Speaker 4: at Paul Frost dot com. Again, that's Paul at Paul
Speaker 4: Frost dot com. F bro OSD. You gotta you gotta
Speaker 4: spell it out because people see Forest and cross and Frost.
Speaker 1: We got to spell it, Paul, Yeah, and uh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Paul at Paul Frost dot com. You can email
Speaker 4: me there and then for a phone number at the
Speaker 4: state House six one seven seven two two two four
Speaker 4: eight nine. Again that's six one seven seven two two
Speaker 4: two four eight nine, Paul.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Don't hang up because we want to
Speaker 1: get Linda in Ipswich's phone number. And I know that
Speaker 1: she's not even close to your district, but I would
Speaker 1: appreciate it as a person, get that path that information
Speaker 1: to her. And if you know her state rep or
Speaker 1: state senator, maybe you can kind of put a good
Speaker 1: word in because it sounds to me as if she's
Speaker 1: being taken advantage of. Thank you, Paul, appreciate you call
Speaker 1: very much. I appreciate your time tonight very much. Here
Speaker 1: it comes to ten o'clock news, we'll be back. We're
Speaker 1: going to stick with this topic. I think it's an
Speaker 1: important one where we have a dilemma here. A dilemma
Speaker 1: is something that you got to try to figure how
Speaker 1: you're going to get out of. I don't know that
Speaker 1: there is an escape valve here. We're coming back on
Speaker 1: Night Side