The Migrant Crisis — in Portland, Maine
It’s already struggling with a relative handful of newcomers, and its ability to continue is in doubt
By Andrew R. Arthur on September 5, 2022
To my surprise, there is a migrant crisis in Maine’s largest city, Portland, and it’s straining local and state coffers — and drawing federal cash, too. The locals are compassionate, but their ability to continue housing and providing for illegal entrants from all over the world who were apprehended by DHS and released at the Southwest border is in serious doubt.
FEMA Budget Overview. The Portland migrant crisis was revealed in the FY 2023 budget request for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a DHS component.
In requesting an additional $24 million (on top of $150 million allocated for FY 2022) for migrants through FEMA’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP), DHS explained:
The EFSP provides critical resources to communities providing humanitarian relief to thousands of families and individuals encountered by DHS at our nations southern border. Communities in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and as far reaching as Portland, Maine, are providing food, shelter, transportation, COVID-19 testing, and care associated with recommended quarantining and isolation of this population and incurring the cost of this relief.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Migrant-Crisis-Portland-Maine
