Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate ‘disturbing pattern’ at taxpayer-funded hotels
‘This is a crisis — one that requires federal action now,’ says former shelter director Jon Fetherston
Former migrant shelter director reveals he was attacked after blowing whistle on sexual abuse
Jon Fetherston, a former Massachusetts migrant shelter director, revealed that he was grabbed and attacked by an immigrant after Fetherston and a state official confronted him about raping and impregnating his own daughter.
A former immigrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the “disturbing pattern” of criminal activity, sexual assaults and financial abuse that he says is widespread in the state-run migrant shelter system.
Jon Fetherston, a former director of an immigrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, first blew the whistle about the widespread abuse in the shelter system after he discovered a Haitian migrant named Ronald Joseph, who was living in his shelter, had repeatedly raped and impregnated his 13-year-old daughter.
Fetherston previously told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he “reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening.”
However, instead of being arrested immediately, Fetherston was directed to order Joseph a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months in February.
A former migrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the “disturbing pattern” of criminal activity, despite Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s, left, extreme criticism of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images | Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images | Getty Images / Fox News Digital)
Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that “there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on” and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks.
Fetherston said, “The entire experience has shaken me to my core.”
In a letter sent to Bondi on Monday, Fetherston said that this was “not an isolated incident” but despite his raising the alarm, “there has been a deliberate wall of silence. No reforms. No accountability. Just more spin, stonewalling, and bureaucratic excuses.”
“This is a crisis — one that requires federal action now,” he said.
Fetherston is now asking Bondi to launch a full investigation into criminal activity and sexual violence within Massachusetts-run migrant shelters, widespread fraud and misuse of federal and state funds, the deliberate refusal to coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies and the pattern of retaliation against those reporting abuse, danger or misconduct.
