‘Lightning rod of attention’: Migrant crisis in Mass. highlights anti-immigrant sentiments and need for security

Emergency shelters across the state have always required some element of security. But the rapid expansion over the last year of the shelter system, which now houses migrant families in nearly 100 communities, and heightened public scrutiny of new arrivals fleeing violence, political unrest, and economic turmoil in their home countries has created a more urgent need.

Families living in the emergency shelter system — which hit a state-set cap of 7,500 families late last year — have fled turbulent conditions in countries such as Haiti and Venezuela in search of reliable employment and safety for their families. But here, they have also faced mistrust and hate, from residents in Dedham railing against “handouts” to immigrants, to neo-Nazis marching in protest outside a shelter in Quincy and in Kingston.

The backlash echoes anti-immigrant sentiments that have reverberated in national media, in public comments from conservative lawmakers, and in rhetoric from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, during which he characterized migrants crossing the southern border as “poisoning the blood” of America.

Security at migrant shelters is “a priority,” according to Emergency Assistance director Scott Rice.

“Having a security presence at our overflow sites has been a best practice to prevent disruption of services and maintain privacy,” Rice said in a statement.

At the Cass, there was an incident in February where a man taking cellphone footage of the shelter got close to the front door and tried to enter when families were let inside. Dunn and Womack went outside to speak to the man, who they said isn’t hostile but makes a regular appearance at the shelter.

“Everybody’s eyes are on 24-7,” Dunn said after the encounter. “You couldn’t have it any other way.”

Shelters that have contracts as part of the state’s emergency assistance system must agree to follow a “scope of services,” which include shelter safety and security considerations, officials said. But security needs vary by site, and it’s ultimately up to the provider. A group-home-style shelter with 11 families, for example, will have different needs than a former hotel housing more than 60.

At the Cass, officials have hired community leaders such as Womack, Dunn, and others from the Nubian Square Foundation to provide security.

For years, Womack and Dunn have focused on hiring people getting out of prison, and have helped provide security elsewhere in the community, including public housing complexes.

Securing the shelter with Roxbury locals instead of, say, the Massachusetts National Guard, provides a sense of dignity to those living inside, Womack said. Plus, it sets an example of acceptance for the greater community.

“We change the climate of any environment we’re in,” he said. “People feel safe.”

Lately, rising anti-immigrant sentiment in local communities has sharpened a focus on security concerns. Protesters gathered outside the Cass when Governor Maura Healey first toured the shelter, carrying signs that said “Boston’s Full” and “Why Roxbury? Try Wellesley.” In the fall, a local neo-Nazi group staged a protest outside Healey’s Arlington home, chanting anti-immigrant slogans. They returned last month.

“They just come for the drama,” Dunn, president of the Nubian Square Foundation, said at the Cass during a recent visit.

United Way of Massachusetts Bay, which uses state grant money to fund overflow shelter sites in the Boston area, said it has also taken advice from other providers about the safety of shelter tenants and put security in place at its sites.

It is meant “to protect the families and providers, and their staff, should an extremist group want to target the site,” spokesperson Brigid Boyd said, noting that they put security in place for precautionary reasons; there has not been a documented security issue at any of their shelter sites.

A recent Suffolk University poll found that nearly half of 1,000 Massachusetts voters characterized the migrant crisis as an emergency situation. In the poll, three out of four voters said immigration and control of US borders are “very pressing problems,” putting those issues among the top concerns, along with fears about the future of democracy and China’s expanding power.

“This issue is a thread issue, not only in state polling, but also in the national polling as well,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “It’s sticking with voters right now.”

Paleologos said the state’s exploding shelter system has transformed national talking points into on-the-ground fights. The immigrant population has become, he said, a “lightning rod of attention.”

Jesse Rhodes, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has also polled on the issue, said the perceived migrant crisis in Massachusetts and the mounting financial cost for the state to support new arrivals “has driven up attention to the issue of migration more broadly,” contributing to “anxiety and concern,” particularly among those who identify as more conservative.

“In the context where immigrants have been consistently represented as a fundamental threat to the US, there are a huge amount of conspiracies theorizing around migrant centers and where people are being kept and are living,” he said. “That leads to security threats and people who are willing to do harm to these individuals.”

Back in Roxbury, Meshach Little, a guard with the security team at the Cass, sat in a folding chair at the back door of the field house.

He said that the protests have died down since the Cass opened, and that for him, the news has sparked meaningful conversations with friends and family who feel like the migrants are taking away resources from the community.

“When people realize that people from this community are helping, it’s kind of a buffer,” he said. “Everyone is mad at them, but they don’t know their situation. It’s hectic, watching them in here like this.”

Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross.