Our federal law requires complex paperwork followed by a six-month waiting period before employment. They would enter our workforce except for one thing. And here they are – newly arrived, talented, willing and motivated. That means Maine needs 20,000 new workers. There are 44,000 unfilled jobs and 24,000 people unemployed. Maine has an enormous workforce shortage. Serving them as homeless misses the mark.Īt the root, these are people migrating to Maine in search of peace and work. They have already proven their resiliency and overcome tremendous adversity. They are blocked from employment and housing due to federal laws. The shelter has become a holding tank.Īlthough Maine desperately needs affordable housing, asylum seekers are not homeless because of that. All of us.” Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographerīut Portland’s Oxford Street Shelter has recently morphed to address a new need the current shelter is serving as the de facto asylum seeker resettlement program for the state of Maine. “These are all places of unrest, of war that we are leaving,” Selemani said. He stayed the first six weeks at Portland’s Oxford Street shelter for homeless adults. Selemani himself was once an asylum seeker and came to the United States in 2016. Marcel Selemani walks to a recently arrived family’s room at a motel in South Portland.
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