As the state's new policy of turning some away from shelter has left migrant families struggling and hungry as the days get colder, the House wants to revive a nutrition benefit for newly-arrived immigrants. The House last week quietly tacked into a spending bill a provision to reinstate a policy that Massachusetts repealed over two decades ago to offer Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to immigrants who are in the country legally, but who are not citizens.
But while that bill — which also includes $250 million for the shelter system that has strained under an influx of new immigrants — winds its way through the legislative process, families have begun to be turned away from the overflowing shelter system. Those families have gone to community groups for support, where they take refuge from the cold during the day and seek out churches to sleep in at night, according to a community organize