ILAP Statement on Senator Collins’ Letter to Department of Homeland Security on Asylum Seekers in Maine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 10, 2023  
CONTACT: press@ilapmaine.org

PORTLAND, ME – Like many nonprofit organizations across Maine, the staff at the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) is working around the clock to meet the needs of our fellow human beings who are arriving in Maine seeking safety. Our role in welcoming and supporting asylum seekers and other immigrants is to provide high-quality immigration legal services to as many people as we can reach.  

ILAP is in solidarity with our partners across the state as they work tirelessly to meet massive and urgent resource challenges. As we acknowledge and live those challenges every day in our work at ILAP, we unequivocally condemn proposals like Senator Collins’ that would address resource issues by denying humanitarian protection and forcing vulnerable people into even more dangerous situations.   

Senator Collins’ request that “DHS verify all destination addresses prior to allowing entry into the country” would undermine the United States’ international treaty obligations and does not reflect the realities that migrants are facing. People arriving at the border have been forced from their homes and are looking for a safe place, something all of us deserve. Those seeking safety include children, parents, and grandparents. The most vulnerable may have no connections in the United States. We know that the effect of proposals like this – which add more barriers to an already-inaccessible system – leave asylum seekers stranded in Mexico, where they have been assaulted, abducted, raped, and murdered.  

Sue Roche, ILAP’s Executive Director said: “The situation in Maine right now is not simply a lack of resources and capacity, it’s the result of poor federal government planning in furtherance of a racist and xenophobic immigration system that disproportionately harms Black, Brown, and marginalized immigrants. The wealthiest nation in the world can and should follow its own laws on asylum and respond to resource challenges with resource solutions.” 

Nonprofit organizations and regular Mainers have been stepping up every day to respond to the failures of the federal government to assist those in need of humanitarian protection. We call on Senator Collins, the rest of Congress, and the administration to step up with us and design and implement effective, pragmatic solutions that ensure humanitarian aid and protection for those at our border and already in our communities.  

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