AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Janet Mills is not considering an emergency declaration to address housing and other help for hundreds of asylum seekers who have come to southern Maine in recent months, her office said Wednesday.
It came in response to questions a day after Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat like Mills, declared an emergency while citing more than 20,000 people living in stressed shelters across the state. That was up 80 percent over a year ago, and she called it “exponentially more than our state has ever served” in an assistance program.
The influx is an example of an international problem hitting Greater Portland and bigger cities across the country. Apprehensions of migrants at the southern border rose sharply last month, and the numbers of people declaring asylum hit a record high last year.
Hundreds of them, mostly from African countries, have come to southern Maine and other areas nationally dealing with increased homelessness and housing shortages. Portland has been most affected. A temporary shelter at a public arena is set to close this month, and city leaders have called on Mills and the state to coordinate a larger housing plan.
On Wednesday, Mills spokesperson Ben Goodman said the governor is not considering an emergency declaration at this time, saying the state will work with municipal leaders and advocates to “support the transition of immigrants into Maine communities and the workforce and to evaluate further housing options” for all people here struggling with secure housing.
Massachusetts differs from Maine in that it has a right-to-shelter policy. Healey’s emergency powers are similar to those that Mills has, allowing both to issue executive orders governing affected policy areas, such as governors did at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been no calls from cities or advocates for Mills to declare an emergency, but Portland leaders have asked her to either call up the National Guard to help build transitional housing or endorse a stalled idea to house asylum seekers at a Unity college campus.
Mills has not specifically answered those calls, but her office has been circulating a list of the administration’s actions on the topic, including opening 125 apartments in the Portland area to asylum-seeking households, supporting emergency and transitional housing and expansions of education and health services.
Asylum seekers from Africa often make harrowing journeys by boat to Brazil and then on foot to the southern border. Those who enter illegally but declare asylum are allowed to stay in the country while awaiting immigration proceedings. They cannot work for at least six months under federal law, something Maine state and federal policymakers want Congress to change.
Last week, Mills announced that she would establish an Office of New Americans within her administration, tasking her policy office with mapping out a plan for it by January. It was supported by business and immigrant groups, but legislative Republicans signaled that they may be skeptical of funding the plan in the long term.
“Maine people cannot keep the pace with housing, health care, workforce development and education needs of the thousands who will continue to arrive here if the real issue of border control isn’t addressed,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, told Spectrum News Maine last week.