This is not publicly available information, and that’s by design at the State of Maine level. Not even ICE knows the real number. I know because my buddy has worked for them for almost 20 years, and was US Secret Service before that. As of last year, there were 14,000 known individuals in Maine who were likely to be subject to deportation orders as they move through the system. Those are people who’ve “touched” the immigration system at some point and were known to ICE.
My guess is at least twice, probably much more than that are currently here. Like I said, nobody actually knows because State of Maine goes out of their way to NEVER verify citizenship status for ANYTHING. Not driver’s licenses. Not voter registration. Not for benefits. Not for other public services like translation. Publicly-funded nonprofits do the same, although a few have now changed that due to federal funding stipulations. The whole system is set up to subvert US Immigration law and even Maine State law, especially concerning voting eligibility.
Furthermore, if someone has an ICE detainer and gets picked up by state or local police, they will not be transferred to ICE regardless of the crime.
The school enrolment numbers I learned from watching school board meetings. They aren’t published on any website, discussed on the news, or editorialized in the major newspapers.
If I had to guess, probably 2/3 of the ESL students currently enrolled would be subject to deportation with their parents. That’s just a guess. So maybe 10,000 or more illegal immigrants in a town of roughly 40,000, as a high estimate. But again, I could be off. A LOT of people have shown up recently, that’s for sure. A LOT of people have left, too.
You do. The US citizenship test has an English language component. So does naturalization, at least on paper. I think a LOT of people got naturalized without English proficiency, especially during Biden’s term.
Immigration is only one aspect of the State of Maine’s current mess. There’s also the “harm reduction” policies and generous benefits for people experiencing uselessness, which attracts a lot of those types who just want to get high, be fed, be resuscitated when they overdose, crash out at the low-barrier shelter (or tent it during the warm weather), and generally cause mayhem.
Just this week a Lewiston City Council member estimated that Lewiston is up to between 600 to 1,000 people within the city limits who are homeless. The eye test tells me it’s gotten WAY worse since “harm reduction” policies were enacted at both the state and local level.
This also ties in with Maine’s thriving crime networks and our lenient, underfunded and understaffed criminal justice system. Maine and Lewiston in particular is now a low-risk, high-reward place to engage in criminal activity compared to a typical red city in a red state of similar size. “Harm reduction” actually subsidizes drug cartels because by decriminalizing the use of hard drugs AND supplying the addicts with food, shelter, medical care, and a slap-on-the wrist for stuff like terrorizing businesses and threatening women, it ensures that the addict can spend every dollar they have on drugs, with lots of time to go on various quests to acquire those dollars.
School policies are another aspect that can dramatically improve. That’s an even LONGER post to write.
There’s a LOT that gets baked into the cake of radical Democratic Socialism, and it ALL rows in the direction of destabilizing society and entrenching the Democratic Party.
The Somalis my kid went to school with almost all spoke great English and he graduated in 2018. Most in that age bracket were born in Tennessee, Georgia, or refugee camps in Kenya. The explosion of languages spoken in LPS was ramping up among the elementary aged kids at that time, and it’s gotten WAY worse since. Teacher retention is a real problem, and the elementary school he went to (which was very good at the time) is now rife with problems according to the line of teachers who’ve bypassed the Superintendent (who says everything is great) to make public comments at school committee meetings.
I’m totally fine with Somalis and anyone else who learns English, works hard, and doesn’t grift off of taxpayer dollars. I’ll take the young Somali fellas who opened up a great car detailing business a couple blocks away over any American-born person who moved here to collect benefits.
I’ve been meaning to read this guy’s book at some point, but there are quite a few Abdi Iftin’s floating around Maine who have assimilated wonderfully. I think some significant policy changes would result in a lot more people like him and like the kids who opened up the well-priced, excellent car detailing business in my neighborhood.
