At least one Republican lawmaker is speaking out after Gov. Maura Healey seemed to indicate that when it comes to the migrant crisis facing the Bay State, her hands are tied by state law and federal inaction.

State Sen. Peter Durant, a conservative from Spencer, said that the governor has had ample opportunity to address a problem she declared a statewide emergency at the end of summer.

“Our Governor has had a lot of choices,” Durant said in a statement.

Healey, in an interview aired Sunday by WCVB, said that she is bound by the state’s Right-to-Shelter law to house anyone who qualifies, though she has said the state will serve no more than 7,500 unhoused families.

“We have a law that requires us to house people,” she told the hosts of On The Record.

Massachusetts is alone among the 50 U.S. states in providing a right to shelter for mothers-to-be and families with small children.

Healey also laid some blame at the feet of the federal government, over Congressional inaction on the border and immigration, suggesting that a bipartisan deal put together at the behest of long-serving Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel was sabotaged by the Republican candidate for the White House.

“This is a federal problem. Remember, the number of immigrants we’re seeing — in Massachusetts and other states — over the border is the result of federal inaction. There was a bipartisan deal on the table weeks ago. Republicans in Congress killed it after Donald Trump said no deal on immigration,” she said.

According to Durant, there is much Healey could do through the Legislature to help resolve a problem that’s filled the state’s Emergency Assistance shelters to capacity for more than half a year.

“Nine months ago, I asked her to endorse my legislation to amend the Right to Shelter law so that it only applies to our legal residents. She has refused. Moreover, the Governor could have made the amendment part of her budget proposal, but she did not. She has filed legislation to allow communities to double the car excise tax, but she has not filed this amendment,” Durant said.

“If she feels that she doesn’t have a choice, why doesn’t she endorse my legislation?” the senator said.

The upper-chamber lawmaker went on to say that the Healey Administration could have done a better job managing the crisis on the ground, by being more selective in their placement of migrant families and more aware of the message she’s sending to struggling Bay State families.

“Gov. Healey’s administration could have limited the food vouchers, but she decided to pay $64 per day per person which is significantly more than the average taxpayer spends per day on food. The Governor chose to put the migrants in blue collar communities not the more affluent municipalities. That was a choice. The Governor could have put the contracts out to bid. She did not. That was her choice. She has chosen not to answer my requests for information in the situation,” Durant said.

“Our Governor is not powerless. Healey has chosen the migrants over the taxpayers,” the Spencer Republican said.

The Herald has reached out to the Healey Administration for comment.