Massachusetts lawmakers voted down a proposal that would have blocked illegal immigrants from receiving taxpayer-funded rental assistance worth up to $30,000.
Rep. Ken Sweezey, R-Duxbury, offered the amendment to the House version of the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. It would have required the state to verify U.S. citizenship before handing out HomeBASE benefits.
Beacon Hill Democrats rejected it.
The vote wasn’t even close. Just 26 representatives supported the amendment. A total of 132 voted no.
That means nearly every Democrat on Beacon Hill sided against requiring citizenship for a program that pays people’s rent.
HomeBASE can provide up to $30,000 over two years. It covers rent, security deposits, moving costs, and even furniture.
Taxpayers fund all of it.
Massachusetts taxpayers already shoulder billions in costs tied to illegal immigration. A 2023 report from the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated the total at about $2.9 billion annually, or more than $1,000 per household.
And Beacon Hill Democrats still voted to keep programs like this open.
Sweezey called his proposal “simple” and “common sense.” He said tightening eligibility could save money at a time when the state is struggling to keep up with the cost of its shelter system.
Massachusetts is the only state in the country with a right-to-shelter law. That system has previously cost as much as $10,000 per month per family. The state has already had to cap the number of families it can serve.
At the same time, demand continues to rise. Many of the families in the shelter system today are migrants, including some illegal immigrants.
Instead of drawing a clear line, lawmakers chose to keep the door open to provide handouts to the entire world.
Sweezey warned that families leaving hotel shelters are not leaving the system altogether. They are moving into other programs, like HomeBASE.
“Really, nobody left the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but were rather shuffled from one program over to another,” he said.
His amendment would have ensured those benefits go to citizens.
Democrats rejected that idea.
They did so even as they warn about budget constraints, talk about cutting local aid, and struggle to manage the rising cost of the shelter system.
Meanwhile, subsidizing housing for illegal immigrants will put even more strain on state and local budgets. Not to mention the fracturing social cohesion that comes with it, along with public health risks, crime (remember what happened at the Rockland Comfort Inn?), and depressed wages for low-wage workers.
This is not complicated.
If a program pays people’s rent with taxpayer money, lawmakers should require proof of citizenship.
Beacon Hill Democrats chose not to.
Instead, they're putting illegal immigrants ahead of Americans.
