Immigrant families accommodated at Boston Logan Airport

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By Alex Oliveira

The number of migrants being protected at Boston Logan Airport appears to have increased, with crowds of families lining the baggage claim area, surrounded by suitcases and using sparse blankets instead of makeshift mattresses.

New photos from The Post show that more than a hundred migrants are now spending nights sleeping on the floor of a Boston airport – a marked increase in recent weeks from the dozens who were there a few months ago.

“We still see migrants at the airport. They come to Logan in different ways. They are also arriving in Logan at all hours,” a MassPort representative previously told Boston 25 News as the number of migrants in Logan skyrocketed.

But without adequate staff and resources to properly care for the large resident population, migrants are transported daily from the airport to state-run welcome centers and then brought back at night, MassPort says.

At the airport, migrants face less than ideal conditions, including cold air conditioning, hard floors, lights in their faces all night long and airport announcements that keep them awake, WBUR reports.

Migrants have been staying in the Logan baggage area since last year, when state shelters reached capacity of 7,500 families in November, forcing people on waiting lists to be housed in airport facilities.

To address the state’s growing migrant population, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced in May that a former prison about an hour southwest of Boston would be converted into a shelter for about 400 homeless families — including 150 sites open to migrant families.

MassPort could not be reached for comment when contacted by The Post.

Airports across the country outside Logan have become common tools for housing migrants.

San Diego International Airport was used to accommodate hundreds of migrants on its floors at a time, as were Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and the El Paso airport in Texas.