Gov. Healey could do herself and Massachusetts a lot of good if she regionalized the state’s serious immigration problem.

If she doesn’t soon get a handle on the immigrant invasion of the state, it will bury her administration.

It will not be easy, but nothing is when it comes to dealing with the influx of Immigrants from around the world — both legal and illegal.

They have flocked to Massachusetts to partake in the state’s generous welfare policies, policies that have overwhelmed the state’s ability to care for them.

The policy was written forty years ago to deal with homeless Massachusetts residents but has been liberally interpreted to include homeless immigrants from around the world.

It is as though the state hung a “Welcome to Massachusetts” sign around its neck. So they have come, and are still coming. Why not? Everything is free in Massachusetts.

Except that the Legislature, temporarily stymied, will appropriate another $250 million to help pay for the housing, feeding and schooling of the immigrants. And, despite Gov. Maura Healey’s “cap” on the 7,500 immigrant families already living in hotels, motels and shelters, more are coming.

Future immigrant families will be placed on a “waitlist” which, translated, means that the state will take care of them anyway. No immigrant, legal or otherwise, will be denied assistance or told to go back to where they came from.

Because President Biden will not provide states like Massachusetts with the funds to deal with the immigrant problem he created when he opened the borders, Healey may soon need to raise taxes to pay for it all.

And since Healey cannot rely on the useless Massachusetts delegation to Congress, all Democrats, to wrest funding out of the Democrat Biden administration, Healey must begin to seek help elsewhere.

One way Healey could seek relief from the federal government is to show leadership by making the immigration problem a regional issue. She could do that by reviving the New England Regional Commission or creating something similar.

The nonpartisan agency, created in 1967, was made up of the governors of the six New England states with a total of 12 U.S. senators. Its goal was to stimulate and promote economic development, including the funding of infrastructure projects, providing financial and technical assistance, as well as providing private and public issue forums.

It had clout in Washington. However, it was abolished during a budget-cutting campaign by smaller-government President Reagan in 1981, although its sister commission, the Appalachian Regional Commission, survived.

That is because the Appalachian Regional Commission, made up of 13 states, ranging from New York and Pennsylvania down to Georgia and Alabama with 13 governors and 26 U.S. Senators, had more clout. It is the recipient of millions in federal funds.

Healey has already shown a willingness to cooperate with fellow New England states. Early on in her administration she joined the other five states in a regional approach to procure federal funds for energy transmission.

Early in October she joined with Connecticut and Rhode Island to coordinate offshore wind procurements, setting guidelines for offshore wind ventures.

Immigration is different, of course. It is a touchy and costly issue that, if not properly dealt with, can tend to destabilize overburdened communities, which is why Donald Trump has crowds roaring when he vows to send illegal immigrants back to where they came from.

It is unfair, but true, that the immigrants are sent to motels and hotels in generally working-class communities like Lowell, Woburn and Taunton and not Brookline, Newton or Weston.

It is also a given that folks in neighboring states might balk at accepting immigrants bussed in from Massachusetts without accompanying reasons, plans and financial incentives.

This is where a revised New England Regional Commission, or something similar, could come in and play a role. She should establish one.

Instead of biting around the edges, Healey has an opportunity to step up and become a regional leader on the issue.

After all, we are all in this together.  Aren’t we?

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.