​Boston sheriff plans to move homeless from tent encampment into former ICE detention facility

Boston’s area sheriff wants to move some 100 homeless addicts from deteriorating conditions at a tent encampment into a nearby empty jail building once used for ICE detainees within the next three weeks, as he rushes to finalize plans for a controversial “mobile courtroom" at the facility.

Rape and open-air drug dealing has permeated the encampment, Tompkins told Fox News Digital, as women and even young boys are subjected to human trafficking. The sheriff wants his program, aimed at bringing about 100 of those homeless individuals to the jail for addiction treatment, up and running by Thanksgiving. His office is aiming to get people off the streets before winter sets in.  The tents of a homeless camp line the sidewalk in area commonly known as Mass and Cass, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Boston. Boston declared addiction and homelessness a public health emergency on Tuesday, a move that will help the city clear the encampment which is at the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis.  ((AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)) The tents of a homeless camp line the sidewalk in area commonly known as Mass and Cass, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Boston. Boston declared addiction and homelessness a public health emergency on Tuesday, a move that will help the city clear the encampment which is at the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis.  ((AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)) The tents of a homeless camp line the sidewalk in area commonly known as Mass and Cass, Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, in Boston. Boston declared addiction and homelessness a public health emergency on Tuesday, a move that will help the city clear the encampment which is at the epicenter of the city's opioid crisis.  ((AP Photo/Michael Dwyer))

"It’s a horrific scene. It’s something that if you didn’t actually walk through this every day you wouldn’t believe this is America. It is outrageous what is going on out there," Tompkins told Fox News Digital. "Having an open-air drug den where people are relieving their bodily wastes, where people are fornicating, well that’s a real problem. Society has to step in and do something."