Maine’s asylum seekers need quicker access to day-to-day needs, especially jobs.

On June 28, this paper reported (happy) news that South Portland had secured funding for 367 asylum seekers to stay at the Howard Johnson hotel. For a year, this will cost the state around $4.5 million to $5 million. The same day, it printed news that MaineCare for noncitizens was voted down in the Senate, because of cost. It has me wondering how we’ll attend to all this in the long term. Forced displacement is at a height and will not relent soon.

Last week I attended the ribbon cutting for Westbrook Common, a new public space. Beside me sat two new arrivals from Angola, and luckily we could converse in French. We talked about the live music, the pizza, Brazil, but also the wait list for English classes at Portland Adult Education, their housing searches and need for work. I tried to rifle through my own connections. Would you be interested in farming? Almost taken aback, they said they just want to start anything, then stressed it again – anything.

“Il faut travailler,” they said in French – “You have to work.” They can’t help with farm jobs, however, because they have to wait many months for a work permit.

This is not the first time I’ve heard an immigrant express frustration at not being able to work, not being able to study English, not being able to return to independence. They don’t want the “government dime,” so let’s not be hypocritical and force them to take it.

Alex Silver
Portland