Here's What Happened When a Couple Volunteered to House Illegal Immigrants

Madeline Leesman reporting for Townhall 

A Massachusetts couple who volunteered to house illegal immigrants said that a family of four showed up at their doorstep less than an hour after they signed up. 

The couple, Chris and Jessica Stokes, live in Brookline. In the days before the couple signed up to house immigrants, hundreds of illegals were sleeping on the floor of Boston Logan International Airport with no place to go. The family that arrived at the Stokes’ house was in this type of situation.

“We really knew nothing,” Jessica Stokes said in an on-camera interview, emphasizing that they didn’t know their ages, where they were coming from, among other things. 

The family, which includes a couple and their two kids, came from Chile, then to Texas, then to Massachusetts.

"Just the dysfunction is really disheartening and I know that really well-intentioned people are working as hard as they can, it's a state of emergency. But it is distressing to see the volume," Jessica Stokes said.

“The need is so clearly overwhelming,” Colin Stokes added. “It boggles the mind that there are so many hundreds of those stories and those people who are in such a stressful, traumatic transition.”

Earlier this month, Townhall covered how illegal immigrants who were sleeping on the floors of Boston Logan International Airport were relocated to an “overflow” shelter at a community recreation center. The center, which was used for sports for children in the community, paused all its activities until further notice to handle the migrants.

"We're here today because we really don't have a choice," Democratic Governor Maura Healey reportedly said after touring the site with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and other city officials.

“As you know, families continue to come into this country, continue to come into Massachusetts. And, we have, over the last several months, opened up locations throughout the state, including large overflow sites around the state…We have right now, about 7,500 families in Massachusetts housed through that program,” Healey said, adding that the state has “reached capacity.”

In an interview, Healey broke down crying as she spoke about the decision.