We were disappointed to read that this paper supports cutting general assistance to asylum seekers (“Welfare for all asylum-seekers is unsustainable,” Jan. 8, 2014.)
This proposal had been considered and rejected by a working group convened by the Legislature to help decide what changes should be made to the program. When they reviewed this proposal, the working group found that eliminating general assistance for asylum-seekers and other recent immigrants who live in Maine would be devastating to these families and the communities in which they reside.
The editorial notes that our immigration laws need to be changed so that asylum-seekers do not have to wait so long to obtain work visas. It’s true that our broken immigration system needs to be fixed and a minimum of 180 days is too long to wait for work authorization from the federal government. But while we wait for federal laws to change, the people who have come to Maine to find safety from violence in other countries should not be punished by our state.
Without general assistance, these families will be left in the cold, without any resources. We can and should do better than that. It’s the right thing to do for our communities and for us all.
– Alain Nahimana, coordinator, Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
