Healey, Boston officials tour Roxbury rec center ahead of immigrants' arrival from Logan

Gov. Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu and a coterie of local politicians did a walk-through Wednesday of the Melnea Cass recreational complex in Roxbury, where immigrant families were soon expected to take shelter instead of sleeping on the floor of Logan Airport.

The governor, in a press conference at the complex, said, "We're here today because we really don't have a choice," and thanked the Roxbury neighborhood for the inconvenience of having to give up its widely used rec center until the end of May.

Healey said about 75 migrants, many of them from Haiti, would be sent to the center Wednesday afternoon, with more following in the coming days. The 24,000-square-foot facility can house up to 400 people, according to the administration.

Both Healey and Wu said they continue to press the federal government for assistance, as the state already is sheltering 7,500 families and is scrambling to find temporary and longer term housing for migrants. Healey said she visited Logan Airport Tuesday night and saw families with toddlers and babies on the tile floor with blankets.

"We need to make sure we have a place for people to go safely," she said. At the same time, "I continue to call on Congress to act. President Biden has put forward a plan."

That plan has stalled, as Republicans in Congress take direction from former President Donald Trump. Wu was in Washington D.C. on Tuesday and met with officials from Homeland Security.

"We shared with them some of not only the direct costs that can come from wanting to provide services to families like shelter, like transportation, laundry, food as you've heard, but also staffing up on the school side and the extra resources that are needed for everyone to have the all of the supports," she said.

Boston has taken in about 1,600 new students, Wu said, many of them migrants. She said federal officials offered some promises of funding, particularly to help with schools.

In the meantime, Wu said, Boston is "going to show how this can be done well." Officials are working with neighborhood leaders so that local businesses are hired to provide food, laundry services and other assistance.

City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson said this temporary displacement is hard on community members. Youth groups hold sports practices at the facility and residents use the track for walking and running.

Still, Fernandes Anderson said, "We want to help the Haitians and our migrant populations" and to ensure services such as case managers who speak Haitian Creole.

The governor promised that the state-owned facility would be returned to the community and the many groups that use it by June, and that, importantly, the pool would be open for summer. She said officials are continuing to evaluate other sites around the state for temporary shelter.

A small group of protesters gathered near the complex, calling for closing U.S. borders, housing migrants in wealthy suburbs and preserving Boston facilities for local residents. They shouted "Shame on Healey, shame on Wu," and continued to protest from outside during the press conference.

Healey, in her comments, noted the migrants coming to Boston have entered the country lawfully.

The Roxbury center is the largest of three overflow sites the state has set up for people waitlisted for the family shelter system. The others are in Revere, Quincy and Cambridge. According to the state, there are currently 656 families on the waitlist.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

WBUR's Gabrielle Emanuel contributed to this report.