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Maine Town Pleads With Refugees for Relief
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Source: Immigration Report
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The small city of Lewiston, Maine, population 36,000, has been overwhelmed by an influx of more than 1,000 Somalis over the past 18 months. Last month, the mayor pleaded with them to help stem the tide.
“The large number of new arrivals cannot continue without negative results for all. The Somali community must exercise some discipline and reduce the stress on our limited finances and generosity,” Lewiston Mayor Larry Raymond wrote in his open letter to Somali leaders. “Only with your help will we be successful in the future-please pass the word: We have been overwhelmed and have responded valiantly. Now we need breathing room. Our city is maxed out financially, physically, and emotionally.”
Most of the Somali immigrants had been placed in Atlanta by the federal government as refugees, but then chose to move to Lewiston, drawn by its safety and smaller size.
City officials say the Somalis have strained social services such as welfare, job training, and language classes. Only about half the adults have found jobs. Somalis make up a third of all tenants at the city’s largest public housing complex. More than a quarter of the families on the waiting list for public housing are Somali.
Since the influx began, the city has increased its budgets for local aid and English as a Second Language programs in schools. (More than 200 Somali students have enrolled since spring of 2001, most of whom required ESL instruction.) The city has doubled its general assistance budget (which provides food, housing, utilities, and medicine) and has worked to cobble together federal and state grants.
Lewiston’s assistant city administrator said that the city’s property tax rate has now grown so high that every dollar spent must receive careful scrutiny. The city also worries what may happen if state and federal aid shrinks in upcoming years.
After Mayor Raymond’s letter drew national media attention, Maine Governor Angus King Jr. announced the formation of a task force on immigration and refugee issues, noting that Lewiston faces a situation that “would be difficult for any community.”
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Over the past several years, FAIR has helped immigration reform activists in
Maine organize in their communities, conducting group development sessions and
providing media training. Recently, to provide an opportunity to learn from the
experiences of people who have dealt with similar resettlement issues, FAIR
helped Maine activists to confer with activists in Minnesota, where a similar
influx of Somali refugees has caused social strains. |
Meanwhile, four hours to the south, the Holyoke, Massachusetts city council voted to oppose a plan to relocate 300 Somali refugees in their city of 40,000. The city said it lacks the money needed to house and educate the refugees and asked the federal government to take back grant money to partially fund that endeavor.
11/2002 |
