First migrant families move into emergency shelter at old Norfolk prison, despite protest

NORFOLK - The first migrant families have moved into an emergency shelter at the old Bay State Correctional Center in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

This is the state's latest attempt to ease the migrant crisis in Massachusetts, but the move has divided the town. Residents are worried it will strain Norfolk's resources and add pressure to the school system.

Norfolk, a town of about 11,000 residents, has one ambulance, one gas station and no grocery stores.

450 people to move into former prison

On Wednesday, the state said more than 20 families had been moved into the shelter and that up to 450 people would live in the former minimum-security prison. That would include about 150 school-aged children who would need a seat in a Norfolk classroom.

Benjamin Sprague has two children in Norfolk's schools. He showed up to a rally in the center of town on Wednesday.

"It's like Boston getting 25,000 people, that's a four-and-a-half percent population increase overnight," he told WBZ-TV.

"There is no music room anymore. They have to do music inside the classroom, so how are they going to adjust to have that many children enter into the school system and not have an impact on everything else."

Call for compassion

"I am upset. I'm angry," said local minister Gretchen Robinson. She's hoping for compassion as the town and state try to figure out what's best.

"What is America for?," she asked. "It's a whole bunch of immigrants that came here. Then, we turn around and we say, 'We don't like you because of the color of your skin or whatever or your background.' It's just not fair,"

There is a meeting set for July 11 to discuss the impact the additional students will have on schools in the fall.