State to relocate all remaining migrant families outside of Dartmouth

The State of Massachusetts plans to relocate Dartmouth’s remaining migrant families by the end of January, according to Town Communications Coordinator Magnolia McComish. Half of the families were relocated in December. 

“We received notice from our state liaison that the remaining families that are housed in Dartmouth will be relocated outside of Town,” McComish stated in an email. “The State expects the remaining families to be relocated by the end of the month.”

The state will relocate migrant families with students currently enrolled in Dartmouth Public Schools to Lowell, according to Dartmouth Superintendent June Saba-Maguire. Those students will then be enrolled in that school district, Saba-Maguire said in an email. 

“Since about half of the families were relocated at the end of December, and the remaining families are expected to be moved at the end of January, Dartmouth will no longer have any right-to-shelter families in Town,” McComish said. 

Families have been housed in local hotels under the state’s “right-to-shelter” law, which provides emergency housing to homeless families and pregnant women. Many of the migrant families in Massachusetts have fled gang violence and state instability. Some 7,530 families are currently housed in hotels and shelters across the state, according to data from the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. Up to 50 families are currently housed in Dartmouth.

For the past few months, the Town has coordinated with the school district and community service organizations to assist the families. This included enrolling migrant children in school, modifying bus stops to get them to school, getting families on state health insurance, and providing them with food, toiletries and warm clothing beyond what the state provided. The assisting groups also saw to it that “all of the migrant children” received presents this holiday season, McComish said.