Rockland rape case gets national attention, stokes anti-migrant sentiment

ROCKLAND — The use of hotels for state-funded shelters for migrants has become a hotly debated topic in Massachusetts. After a man living in one of the state-funded migrant shelters in Rockland was accused of raping a 15-year-old on Wednesday, politicians were quick to add the incident to the debate.

Cory B. Alvarez, 26, was living at the Comfort Inn Hotel in Rockland, which was being used as a state-funded migrant shelter, when he was charged with one count of aggravated rape of a child on March 13.

Both Alvarez and the 15-year-old female victim were living in the shelter at the time of the incident.

“Anytime you have a high-profile incident like this involving an immigrant, opponents of immigration are going to highlight it to make the broader case for imposing stricter immigration limits,” said Bridgewater State University political science Prof. Brian Frederick.

“It’s a way they can crystalize it for the public to create concern about the issue and justify their support for tightening immigration laws,” he said.

Here's how politicians have reacted to the alleged incident in Rockland as of Friday afternoon.

Rockland incident leads to anti-immigrant sentiments

Earlier this morning, Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC that supports Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for president, published Fox News’ coverage of the incident on their website. The coverage stated that Alvarez, a Haitian migrant, was “allowed into the U.S. by a controversial program that allows up to 30,000 migrants a month to fly into the country.”  

MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale also commented on the incident in a statement issued by MassGOP this morning.

“I acknowledge the presence of well-intentioned and compassionate residents of Massachusetts who would like for the state to provide refuge for migrants during times of exigency,” she said. “However, it is imperative to discern between appropriate and inappropriate methods of addressing this endeavor,” she continued.

Carnevale went on to criticize the state’s right to shelter legislation.

“The recent incident exemplifies our state's struggle to effectively manage the migrant crisis, and the influx of additional migrants may exacerbate the likelihood of such distressing occurrences,” she said. “There is a pressing need to revisit and amend the legislation pertaining to the right to shelter.”

Fox covers National Guard controversyBrockton thrust into national spotlight over call to deploy National Guard at high school

What is a 'right to shelter' law?

Massachusetts has a ‘right to shelter’ law that requires state officials to guarantee housing to homeless families with children, pregnant women, and migrant families who meet certain eligibility requirements, according to Part I, Title II, Chapter 23B, Section 30 of the Massachusetts General Laws.

In August of 2023, Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency due to a "severe" lack of shelters available to the rapidly rising numbers of migrant families arriving in the state, according to a written statement released by the Healey administration.

At the time the emergency was declared, there were nearly 5,600 families with more than 20,000 individuals in state shelters, according to the Healey administration. The number, they said, was up from around 3,100 families living in emergency assistance shelters a year ago.

Now, there are currently 7,531 families enrolled in the emergency assistance shelters, which includes hotels and motels, according to data from Mass.gov.

However, not all those families enter the program as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. In December 2023, there were 3,516 total families in emergency assistance shelters who entered as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, according to the Healey administration.

“Our Emergency Assistance system is designed to be a temporary, emergency safety-net program. It is not equipped to handle the demand that we have seen in recent months. While we have made herculean efforts to expand capacity as much as possible, we’ve reached a point where the expansion is unsustainable,” Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said in a written statement.

Struck by fallen wallTeenage worker injured in Brockton construction accident

State-funded shelters, hotels open to eligible migrants

Less than a month after the state of emergency was declared, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded the city of Boston $1.9 million in funding to expand shelter services in Massachusetts for newly arrived migrant families, the Healey administration announced in a written statement. They announced that those funds would be partly used to fund temporary hotel rooms for eligible migrants, to be staffed by contracted emergency housing service providers.

Shortly after, the state opened shelters in hotels and other facilities for homeless and refugee families in about 80 communities across the state, with more opening every week.

Rockland became one of those communities in October of 2023.

According to reporting by The Patriot Ledger, state officials informed Rockland that it had reserved rooms “to provide emergency shelter to unhoused families with children and pregnant individuals,” Rockland Town Administrator Douglas Lapp said in a news release.

Lapp told The Patriot Ledger that the state had initially reserved 20 rooms at the 110-room hotel, but that more could be reserved later.

Feeding migrantsLocal man prepares and serves traditional Haitian meals to migrants

Is the opening of more shelters leading to an increase in violence?

“It’s often cited that the immigrant population actually has a lower rate of violent crime than the native-born population in the U.S.,” said Frederick.

“In many instances, cases like these don’t fit the typical pattern of migrants. Anytime you have any group of people in any case, there’s not going to be a situation where no one commits a crime. There’s going to be situations where it occurs, but it doesn’t mean it’s more frequent than the general population,” he said.