Thread: Sen. Collins asks Biden administration to slow the flow of asylum seekers to Maine

Sen. Collins asks Biden administration to slow the flow of asylum seekers to Maine





Randy Billings, Portland Press Herald, Maine
Fri, March 10, 2023 at 12:31 PM EST






Mar. 10—U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is calling on federal officials at the southern border to stop sending asylum seekers to Portland and other communities without first verifying the municipality's capacity to help.

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security Thursday, Collins said Portland is becoming overwhelmed by the number of asylum seekers coming into the city, where municipal officials have made a series of temporary arrangements to provide emergency shelter during the cold Maine winter. Collins' letter also requests information about what role the agency plays in transporting people to the state.

Municipal officials have scrambled to provide shelter and services to asylum seekers, who are primarily from African countries and ill-prepared for Maine's cold climate.

"Maine communities have done their part to assist asylum seekers in need, but these communities are strained far beyond their capacity," the letter says.

"Allowing additional asylum seekers to travel to Maine without first confirming that these individuals will have a place to sleep is irresponsible and could lead to tragedy. I urge you to take immediate action to prevent that from happening."

Those who show up at the border and declare their intent to seek asylum are initially detained and processed by immigration officials.

They are allowed to remain in the country while their applications are pending and are asked to provide authorities a destination address. It's unclear to what extent officials verify those addresses.

Once inside the country, asylum seekers are allowed to move freely and can reside anywhere, although they must be able to appear in a designated immigration court as their case is reviewed.

While some asylum seekers are reuniting with family members or friends, many are giving officials the address of the Portland's emergency shelter and social services offices.

Some asylum seekers arriving in the city have told the Press Herald that they learned about Portland as a possible destination from family members or from other migrants they met on the long journey through Central America and Mexico to the southern border.

Last spring, city officials notified border officials and area organizations that it could no longer guarantee housing to asylum seekers, but that has done little to stem the flow.

Since Jan. 1, the city has seen 665 new asylum seekers arrive in need of shelter, a city spokesperson said Tuesday. That's up from 550 as of the end of February, when the interim city manager issued a warning that "a cliff may be coming where we can't meet the need."

Collins is looking to slow the influx and is seeking information from the Department Homeland Security about its role in transporting asylum seekers to Maine.

"I request that, going forward, DHS verify all destination addresses prior to allowing entry into the country, thereby ensuring that asylum seekers have a safe, reliable destination, and that municipalities are not stretched beyond capacity," she wrote.

Collins, a Republican, said in a written statement Friday that she discussed the issue last week with Maine House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, when Talbot Ross was in Washington, D.C. for Black History Month celebrations and meetings with the state's congressional delegation.

The process of seeking asylum is long and complicated. It can take months for an individual to file a viable asylum claim, which requires evidence that the person faces violence or persecution in their home country because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or belonging to a particular social group.

Court backlogs mean it can often take years for cases to be decided. Meanwhile, asylum seekers must wait at least six month before they can apply for a work permit and become self-sufficient. Most new arrivals in Portland rely in Maine's General Assistance program to meet basic needs for shelter, food and medicine until they can provide for themselves.

Maine, like other areas of the country, is also facing a housing shortage, forcing many families to rely on the city's emergency shelter system which for years has been stretched beyond capacity. Other community and religious groups are also trying to meet the need, with assistance from the state.

Avesta Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, is planning to provide temporary, transitional housing for asylum seekers in a new 52-unit apartment building in South Portland. Those families are currently living in hotels using federal funds, which will run out next months.

"Perhaps most troubling," Collins wrote, "the surge of asylum seekers in Maine now means that housing facilities are beyond capacity and Mainers in need of shelter have no where to go."

Maine's congressional delegation has been trying allow asylum seekers to work sooner, saying a shorter wait for work permits can help address the existing workforce shortage and the need to public assistance. But those efforts have failed as partisan and regional politics have prevented immigration reforms.

Both Collins and Rep. Chellie Pingree have reintroduced bills to reduce that waiting period from six months to 30 days. And Pingree told the Press Herald that she's expecting to run a "full-court press" on the bill this year.

State lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering a bill from Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, that would take a novel approach by requesting a waiver from the federal government to allow Maine asylum seekers to work sooner than in other states.

Collins' letter also poses a series of questions to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, giving him deadline of March 24 to respond.

In addition to asking to what extent DHS verifies destination addresses and a city's capacity to help, she asks whether DHS is "directly or indirectly, facilitating the transportation of asylum seekers" and requesting data on the number of asylum seekers who declared their intent to travel to Maine in each of the last five years.

This story will be updated.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/sen-colli...173100319.html

Load them on ships and ship these parasites back home! We have no housing and are $31 trillion in debt!

We have millions of our own homeless to take care of.

We owe these criminal trespassers absolutely nothing!