Cutting off aid to those facing persecution punishes people taking legal steps to stay here.

The LePage administration’s ongoing war on Maine’s poor is continuing to play out, and immigrants are at great risk of becoming the latest casualties.

Last month, Maine’s cities and towns were ordered to stop granting General Assistance to people who are not yet citizens. Any communities that ignore the policy change, according to Gov. LePage, will no longer receive state General Assistance reimbursement. Portland and other Maine cities have resisted the directive; the attorney general has questioned its constitutionality, and the Maine Municipal Association is suing to get a court ruling on whether the move is legal.

Regardless of their stance, though, everyone involved in the issue seems to have accepted Gov. LePage’s characterization of noncitizens as rulebreakers. But those who the governor calls “illegals” are actually people who are here legally, facing persecution at home and seeking the government’s permission to stay through the courts.

The real crime is the amount of time these asylum seekers spend in legal limbo when they could be contributing to society. Maine’s government should recognize that if it pushes for speedier federal action, everyone in Maine – wherever they were born – would benefit.
http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/02/our-view-maines-asylum-seekers-deserve-more-support-not-less/