FRAMINGHAM - Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has made an appeal to the federal government to speed up the process to authorize migrants for work, as the state continues to manage an influx of people from outside of the United States.

State officials recently appealed to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), citing both the local refugee crisis and ongoing workforce shortages. In a letter addressed to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Healey advocated for changes that would allow more migrants to be authorized to work and for more assistance for emergency shelters across the Commonwealth.

This comes as Framingham continues to be impacted by the increase in the refugee population. Most of the people being sheltered in a trio of hotels within the city are from Haiti. Multiple organizations have been working in conjunction with Mayor Charlie Sisitsky in order to secure vital resources like food and clothing for more than 50 families in Framingham.

Healey had previously declared a state of emergency on the matter, as up to 250 National Guard members are eligible to be activated to help at emergency hotel sites within Massachusetts.