Gov. Maura Healey dispatched members of her administration to visit the southern border in Texas this week in an effort to make connections with federal immigration officials and “educate them” about shelter issues in Massachusetts, a spokesperson said.

Migration-related issues have dogged Healey’s first term in office, with thousands of families having arrived in the state over the past year and taxpayers shouldering a nearly $1 billion-a-year tab to shelter them in state-funded facilities.

In a statement shared with the Herald, the Healey administration said officials sent to Texas were tasked with making “connections with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Joint Task Force-North, non-governmental organizations, and families to educate them about the lack of shelter availability in Massachusetts.”

Emergency Assistance Director Gen. Scott Rice said it is “essential” that the Healey administration spread the word “that our shelters are full so that families can plan accordingly to make sure they have a safe place to go.”

“This trip is an important opportunity to meet with families arriving in the U.S. 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,” Rice said in a statement.

Members of the state’s emergency assistance incident command — which runs a vast shelter network in the state and assists arriving migrants — the Massachusetts Office of Refugees and Immigrants, and the Division of Housing Stabilization traveled to various spots in Texas, according to the spokesperson.

The group, which arrived Sunday and returns Wednesday, is visiting the San Antonio Airport, Centro de Bienvenida/San Antonio Migrant Resource Center and Shelter, Ursula Processing Facility in McAllen, Hidalgo Port of Entry, and Brownsville Migrant Welcome Center, according to the administration.

“San Antonio, McAllen, Hidalgo and Brownsville are the most common points of entry for families that later arrive in Massachusetts,” the administration said in its statement.

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A trip to the southern border comes after a year where Democratic governors in major northern cities like Chicago, New York, and Boston have had to deal with an influx of migrants, many of whom fled their home countries because of violence, instability, or poor economic conditions.

Elected officials on Beacon Hill have increasingly agreed to put stricter limitations on how many families can access state-run shelters in Massachusetts and for how long they can benefit from those services.

Healey signed off earlier this year on a nine-month limit for families with children and pregnant women to stay in state-run shelters under Massachusetts’ right-to-shelter law, a decades-old statute that guarantees those two groups temporary housing.

That came after months of non-stop demand on shelters, which produced skyrocketing costs and pushed the governor to increase shelter capacity through a large network of at-times pricey hotel rooms.

Hundreds of families have also turned to overflow shelters for housing as they wait for placement into the larger system, though they have to reapply for benefits every month.

There were 7,379 families in the state-run emergency shelter system as of June 20, with 3,731 living in hotels and motels and another 3,648 residing in traditional shelters, according to official data.

About half of the families in shelter are considered to be migrant families who are lawfully allowed to be in the country, according to the Healey administration.

The Healey administration spent $674 million on the emergency shelter system as of June 13, according to data released last week. Officials estimate costs could reach $932 million this fiscal year and $915 in fiscal year 2025.

As the number of migrants started to overwhelm services in Massachusetts, Healey increasingly criticized Congress for what she argued was a lack of federal action on immigration, including failure to pass a wide-ranging bipartisan bill earlier this year.

Her move to send officials from her own administration down to the southern border comes only weeks after she voiced support for President Joe Biden’s executive order aimed at limiting the number of migrants who can enter the United States.