Maine governor expands aid for asylum-seekers, touting benefits to state economy
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Maine has been unusually welcoming to asylum-seekers in recent months, but the state is taking a big step forward. Gov. Janet Mills announced that she would be relaxing restrictions on General Assistance eligibility for asylum-seekers, allowing them to applMaine governor expands aid for asylum-seekers, touting benefits to state economy
Maine has been unusually welcoming to asylum-seekers in recent months, but the state is taking a big step forward. Gov. Janet Mills announced that she would be relaxing restrictions on General Assistance eligibility for asylum-seekers, allowing them to apply for aid as long as they are taking “reasonable good faith steps” to apply for asylum, rather than requiring them to have already completed a formal application, as her Republican predecessor Paul LePage required. This is the right thing to do morally, helping families who have been through fear and deprivation and danger and aren’t yet allowed to work legally. But, Mills explained in a Portland Press-Herald op-ed, it’s also going to be good for Maine’s economy. Maine’s population is the oldest in the U.S., Mills writes, and that’s taking a toll, as ”employers from Kittery to Madawaska and Fryeburg to Eastport are telling us they are desperate for workers and as our young people leave the state for opportunities elsewhere.” As a result, “This workforce shortage is one of the most serious long-term issues facing our state.” But asylum-seekers could help revitalize Maine’s workforce: “They are people with skills, education and ability, people with a proven work ethic and tremendous drive—and they are just waiting for the chance to work.” The aid being offered would be extremely limited—recipients would have to reapply every month and would get vouchers for necessities rather than cash. But following LePage’s Trump-style nastiness and Trump’s constant ratcheting-up of anti-immigrant bigotry, it’s so welcome to see a state acting to help people, and a politician making the affirmative case for immigrants as a benefit to the economy. Read more