Advocates and faith leaders say they are looking to find ways to care for as many as 86 immigrants living in Portland who have been deemed ineligible for a new city aid program modeled after the state’s General Assistance program.

Portland’s City Council, meanwhile, has delayed a decision about whether 123 other immigrants are eligible or not.

The City Council established a $2.6 million fund last month after the LePage administration eliminated some immigrants, including asylum seekers, from the state-funded GA program that provides vouchers for rent, food, clothing and medicine.

However, the 86 are considered no longer eligible for the new program because they don’t meet the city’s definition of asylum seekers – their temporary visas have expired and they can no longer apply for asylum because they have been in the United States longer than one year. The city has said they will be denied further aid unless they provide some other proof of legal immigration status.

Some advocates, such as the Maine Equal Justice Partners, are lobbying city officials to broaden the program to include immigrants who are pursing a lawful presence other than asylum. They also are lobbying the city to provide aid to 123 immigrants with expired visas who have not applied for asylum but are still eligible to apply, a complicated process that hinges on whether an individual can demonstrate a credible fear of violence or persecution if forced to return home.

City Council members had planned to discuss rules and eligibility requirements for the Portland Community Support Fund at a meeting Monday. However, City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said that discussion will instead be held on July 27 to allow the council more time to consider the staff recommendations, which she said are still being drafted.

Grondin said this week that she expects city staff will recommend including the 123 immigrants in the program, although the final decision rests with the council.

The use of public funds to support asylum seekers has become a political battle of wills pitting the LePage administration against the city of Portland and Democrats in the Legislature.

The Portland Community Support Fund, as created through a budget amendment offered by Councilors Justin Costa and David Brenerman, would continue providing assistance to “asylum seekers” who had been denied state financial support by the LePage administration but were receiving city aid as of June 30. The city has already determined that 557 of those immigrants would be eligible to continue receiving aid because they have applied for asylum.

NO SPECIFIC PLANS YET

The news that 86 people will be cut off, and that aid for another 123 people is still up in the air, has mobilized nonprofit agencies, advocacy groups and some in the faith community.

Although no specific plans have yet been presented, city records show some have offered to help find temporary homes or even pay for any funerals, an expense that can be covered with General Assistance when a family has no money.

The Welcoming Immigrants Network, which includes faith and political advocacy groups, is in the process of developing a response to help anyone who may lose assistance, according to the Rev. Sue Gabrielson, executive director of the Maine Council of Churches.

Some advocates are urging the city to include at least some of the 86 in the aid program.

Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, said the group facing the loss of aid includes women covered under the Violence Against Women Act and victims of violent crimes who are helping law enforcement officials.

“The City Council’s intent presumably was to grandfather people who are pursuing a lawful process,” Merrill said. “I feel like asylum seeker was used as shorthand to capture those individuals.”

Throughout the public debate and hearings, many groups and supporters of the program talked solely about asylum seekers – many of which are well-educated immigrants from war-torn or politically troubled nations in sub-Saharan Africa who arrived in Maine with visas that allow them to visit, work or study on a temporary basis. Asylum seekers are not provided federal assistance the way refugees are and they are prohibited by federal law from working for at least six months after applying for asylum, often giving them no other choice than to rely on public assistance.

PROTECTED FROM DEPORTATION

Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, which helps immigrants through the asylum process, said in a June 30 email to city staff and councilors that there is no legal definition of an asylum seeker.

While visas typically expire in six months, those immigrants have a year to apply for asylum, a step that makes an immigrant lawfully present and protected from deportation. “The United States signed a treaty which prohibits the deportation of someone who qualifies for asylum without giving them a chance to submit an asylum application,” Roche said.

Meanwhile, documents obtained by the Portland Press Herald under the Maine Freedom of Access Act show that city staff spent weeks analyzing the circumstances of all the aid recipients in order to provide the council with a breakdown of their immigration status. The records also show city officials were sensitive about the release of information about the analysis showing that more than 200 of the immigrants had not applied for asylum and might not be eligible for aid.

Preliminary information had been provided to city councilors about the possibility that more than 200 and as many as one-third of the asylum seekers might not be eligible. But when the Press Herald received information from councilors and followed up early this month, city staff would not provide the data.

City documents show that city staff had much of the final data in hand as soon as July 2, when an internal staff memo indicated that 545 of the 779 immigrants had actually applied for asylum and would be eligible for the program, while 226 had not applied for asylum, raising questions about their eligibility.

The Press Herald published a story July 13 about the preliminary information given to city councilors. The article sparked a new round of criticism from the LePage administration about aid for noncitizens.

The next day, the city released its final, more detailed data, along with criticism of the Press Herald article. Grondin said Friday that city officials did not want to release the information sooner because they weren’t confident about the numbers.

Randy Billings can be contacted at 791-6346 or at:

rbillings@pressherald.com

Twitter: randybillings

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