Gov. Maura Healey planned to meet with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas today, only weeks after the governor declared a state of emergency in Massachusetts and petitioned the secretary for help with an influx of migrants.

Mayorkas was in Boston for two publicly scheduled events, an awards ceremony at a U.S. Coast Guard Base near the North End and a naturalization ceremony at Faneuil Hall. After an event in Wellesley earlier in the day, Healey said she planned to meet with the secretary at the State House.

The meeting comes more than two weeks after Healey penned a letter to Mayorkas calling on him and the Biden administration to remove “burdensome barriers” to work authorizations for migrants and provide more federal funding to address an influx of new arrivals.

Healey said employers around the state are ready to employ migrants as nurses, laborers, and “so much more.”

“And my meeting with Secretary Mayorkas, with whom I’ve already had conversations, as well as with the Biden administration, will hopefully work to advance some of that, particularly focused on work authorization,” Healey said in Wellesley.

A Mayorkas spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the meeting.

As of Wednesday morning, 5,906 displaced and migrant families were staying in state shelters. That is 356 more families than Aug. 7, the day before Healey declared a state of emergency in response to a rapid increase in migrant arrivals that has pushed emergency shelters to the brink.

More than 80 communities around the state are housing migrants in hotels and motels. Healey has said the administration is spending roughly $45 million a month on sheltering and providing basic necessities to displaced and migrant families.

About 100 migrant families were scheduled to arrive in Woburn next week. Framingham officials said they have placed 40-plus families in three hotels across the city over the past two weeks.

The state has “indicated to [Framingham] that more families are due in August and September,” an Aug. 20 statement from Mayor Charlie Sisitsky said.

Healey said officials are “doing our very best” to make sure there is clear communication after migrant families have arrived unexpectedly in several Massachusetts communities this month.

Migrant families are arriving every day and “we have to hustle as best we can to find lodging and housing for them,” Healey said.

“It’s a very fast moving process. It’s not the way we would have designed this, but it’s the situation we have, frankly, because of Congress’s failure to pass needed immigration reform,” Healey said. “We’re going to continue to work with our community partners with local electeds on all of this.”

Massachusetts is a right-to-shelter state, which means officials are required by law to provide housing to homeless families, including new arrivals.

Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin said the law and federal “inaction” on immigration reform makes Massachusetts an “attractive destination for migrants.”

Healey said she understands local mayors’ frustrations or concerns.

“We also appreciate how willing communities have been and local officials have been engaging with us as we collectively try to address the needs,” she said.