Overall, public schools across Massachusetts — which has become a target of President Trump’s crackdown on immigration — lost over 15,000 students from fall 2024 to fall 2025, according to state data released in January. That brings total enrollment in the state to its lowest level in over three decades.
Immigration
Posted inImmigration
It’s anyone’s guess when Beacon Hill will agree on an immigration response
Three weeks after both Gov. Maura Healey and the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus offered separate roadmaps for action, it’s still unclear how or when House and Senate Democrats will proceed amid national pressure to respond to ICE raids.
Posted inEconomy
Sharp decline in immigration slows Mass. population growth
Like the rest of the country, Massachusetts experienced a significant decline in immigration from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, spotlighting the significant role that foreign-born workers play in the state’s economy.
Posted inEducation
Mass. faces grim reality of fewer international students
Massachusetts’s schools have recruited higher proportions of international students than colleges and universities almost anywhere else because of a demographic decline and the comparatively high cost of higher education here. But even before the second Trump administration, there were signs the bottom was falling out.
Posted inThe Codcast
Health care workers struggle to navigate closures and immigration fears
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith continues health care month coverage in a conversation with 1199SEIU executive vice president Cari Medina and Anestine Bentick, lead medical assistant at South Boston Community Health. They discuss existing pressures on stretched workforces, the impacts of recent closures, and how immigration policy bleeds into the health care space.
Posted inThe Codcast
Blocking and tackling with Massport CEO Rich Davey
This week on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks with Rich Davey, who just finished his first year as CEO of Massport. They talk about his long history of ground transportation work, plans to improve air travel, and whether Boston actually could have handled the 2024 Olympics.
Posted inThe Codcast
Decoding the state budget with Doug Howgate
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith talks to Doug Howgate, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, about the Fiscal Year 2026 state budget. They break down differences between the House and Senate plans, discuss why some parts of the process always happen behind closed doors, and consider the future of the wealth surcharge split between education and transportation.
Posted inThe Codcast
Chief Justice Kimberly Budd makes the case for the state courts
This week on The Codcast, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd sits down for a wide-ranging interview with CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith. They discuss trust in the judiciary, the role of the trial courts and the SJC, and if independence feels more achievable for state courts than the federal bench.
Posted inThe Codcast
‘Forewarned is forearmed’ on housing voucher cuts
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith is joined by Kenzie Bok, head of the Boston Housing Authority, to discuss the threat of President Trump’s budget on rental assistance spending.
Posted inThe Codcast
How does public media survive threats from inside and out?
CommonWealth Beacon reporter Jennifer Smith is joined by Margaret Low, CEO of WBUR, to discuss the role of NPR in the news ecosystem, defending journalistic institutions and values while upholding rigorous standards, and the upcoming WBUR Festival.
Posted inThe Codcast
‘Always been a free market guy’: Mike Kennealy talks running for governor and being a Republican in Mass.
This week on The Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon reporter Gintautas Dumcius talks with gubernatorial hopeful Mike Kennealy about running as Republican against Gov. Maura Healey, his platform, and his history in the Baker administration.
Posted inOpinion
Immigrants can make us rich, if we let them
In almost every geographic context, immigrants with both high and low levels of education are more likely than non-immigrants to open businesses. Unfortunately, we are not taking full advantage of this economic potential.
Posted inPolitics
‘Are you out of your mind?’: Five moments from Mayor Michelle Wu’s immigration testimony
Mayor Michelle Wu offered a forceful defense of the city’s decade-old Trust Act, a policy that limits Boston police cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during a testy House Oversight hearing in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.
Posted inState Government
Healey expands scope of shelter law shakeup
Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday recommended statutory changes to the decades-old Right to Shelter Law.
Posted inOpinion
Learning firsthand the value of helping immigrants
Hosting a family, however, is one way I can assert my values in this troubling time. I encourage others to find ways to do the same.
Posted inImmigration
Healey keeps pulling up the emergency shelter system’s welcome mat
“Massachusetts is out of shelter space, and we simply cannot afford the current size of this system,” said Gov. Maura Healey.
Posted inImmigration
Healey telling migrants Mass. shelters are full
“This trip is an important opportunity to meet with families arriving in the US and the organizations that work with them at the border to make sure they have accurate information about the lack of shelter space in Massachusetts,” said Emergency Assistance Director General Scott Rice, who is leading the five-member team.
Posted inImmigration
Senate, House cut deal on emergency shelter funding
Top lawmakers crafting the compromise supplemental budget bill landed on pulling an additional $251 million for fiscal 2024 from the so-called Transitional Escrow Account, a one-time revenue source that boasts a balance of $863 million.
Posted inOpinion
UMass comings and goings reflect impact of immigrants
UMass leaders are living proof of the incredible impact immigrants make on some of our most important institutions.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Mass. residents say ‘immigration/migrants’ top issue facing state
Sixty-seven percent of those polled said the migrant situation was either a crisis (28 percent) or a major problem (39 percent).