A U.S. city that threw its doors open wide for migrants seeking asylum is now rethinking the decision.

Unlike the so-called sanctuary cities and states typical in the southern portions of the nation, this current crisis of depleted resources is being faced by a city in the northern city of Portland, Maine, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The city, with a population of about 67,000 is now “struggling with an influx of asylum seekers,” according to the report which revealed that very generous policies toward asylum seekers have strained the city’s budget and resources.

“We have more cases than we’ve ever had,” Jennifer Bailey, asylum program director at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Maine, said. “The number of people coming is out of sync with resources.”

Most of Portland’s family shelter space has been used to meet the needs of immigrants seeking asylum as they have poured into the city that offers funding to help them transition to their new homes and even provides pro bono legal representation for asylum petitions in court.

“The word is out there that our community is open to that population and has some assistance programs,” David MacLean, from the Portland Social Services Division, told The Wall Street Journal. “Our local resources are not able to keep up.”

According to WSJ:

Asylum seekers, who are primarily from African countries, now make up 90% of the people living in Portland’s city-run family shelter and overflow shelter, where new arrivals sleep on mats. A city fund that assists with necessities is dwindling fast, and pro-bono lawyers are overwhelmed with cases, Mr. MacLean said.

Many of the immigrants arriving in Portland have come using State Department guidelines for seeking asylum, unlike those crossing the southern U.S. border illegally. But asylum seekers are not able to get jobs for six months after filing their petitions, and are able to receive federal benefits once they’ve actually been granted asylum.

Asy­lum seek­ers, who ap­ply once they are in the U.S., are gen­er­ally in­el­i­gi­ble for fed­eral ben­e­fits un­til they get asy­lum, and are pro­hib­ited from work­ing for at least six months af­ter fil­ing an asy­lum ap­pli­cation. https://t.co/wcFVTb4fVL

— Laurie Kelly (@LaurieKellyMD) January 29, 2019

Now, as nearly 70 percent of those receiving state funding are non-citizens –  many who are asylum seeking non-citizens – debate is unfolding on the wisdom of continuing the welcoming policy. Funds need to be increased, thereby straining state and local coffers, or cutting back on assistance to avoid overpopulation and overwhelming systems for Portland’s residents.

The question about whether taxpayers are willing to foot the bill of generosity and the challenges facing the Maine city were debated on Twitter.

Weird, I thought all mass migration illegal immigrants contributed to society quickly and with merit. That’s what the news has been telling me. Why are they ruining this town if they’re so smart, trained, civilized, and definitely not criminals? I know, we should let more in! /s

— NoRealNews4You (@NoRealNews4You) January 27, 2019

You reap what you sow. Perhaps voters will rethink their choices in the next election. If not, they are getting exactly what they deserve.

— Marina (@GigiandDaisy) January 27, 2019

The point of immigration is adding assets not liabilities. If it’s costing you money, you’re doing it wrong.

— Phillip J Hubbell (@PJHubbell) January 27, 2019

This is what @AOC wants but on a grander scale

Bleeding our resources dry, creating larger govt and then when citizens break, we become drones to the system. #economics #PoliticsToday #OcasioCortez https://t.co/ecldmSaxAO

— Dumbass (@WatchdogDumbass) January 28, 2019

I am all for helping people but it begins to bother me when 70% of government assistance is going to non-citizens. We need to help our veterans, homeless, and mentally ill before we take care of foreign nationals. https://t.co/9fimi8VWib

— George Ragsdale (@georgeragsdale) January 28, 2019

and how many other U.S. cities are feeling it too? It is time to wake up America. Maine’s largest city, Portland, is known for its hospitality to immigrants. But a flow of asylum seekers now tests the city’s limited resources. https://t.co/wUr3MLVyVe via @WSJ

— Howard R Koenig (@RHmainiac) January 29, 2019

I live an hour north of this craphole and let me tell you that they are thrilled with the way its run down there. This whole state is going backwards thanks to this one city…

— Shawn Odom (@scrodom1977) January 29, 2019

And the citizens of Maine didn’t have any say in whether their state would be turned into yet another (soon to be failed) social experiment. Pitiful.

— ً (@chief___justice) January 29, 2019

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Frieda Powers

Senior Staff Writer
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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