Apr 27, 2023
In 2019, Portland, Maine was overrun with hundreds of migrants from Central Africa. All of them had traveled along the “underground railroad” of migrant safe houses that extends from Central America through Mexico, and into the United States. Once they arrived in America, Catholic Charities Maine assisted in sending hundreds of the Angolans and Congolese migrants from San Antonio to Portland, paying for their bus fare and providing specific instructions on what to do and where to go to claim benefits. Two local Mainers, David Pippin and Ashley Livingston, together with their children age five and three, were kicked out of a homeless shelter to make room for migrants and forced to pitch a tent to keep a roof over their heads. According to a State Department report, from 2005 to 2014 the United States spent $96.6 billion on refugees, and $126 billion including the cost of the refugees’ spouses and children. The bill however only accounts for the programs managed by the US