PORTLAND, Maine — Another wave of African asylum seekers are headed to Maine’s biggest city.
City Manager Jon Jennings told NEWS CENTER Maine Thursday, the city is expecting about 31 asylum seekers to arrive in Portland on Friday, November 22.
"We are seen as a welcoming community," said Jennings.
The asylum seekers will be staying at Oxford Street Shelter and their families will be housed at the overflow shelter on Chesnut Street. If more overflow is needed they will go to the YMCA, Jennings said.
Asylum seekers will have to leave the YMCA - if they end up overflowing to there - during the day because the Y has to use the facility. Jennings hopes community partners step up to find them somewhere to go during the cold day.
"Of course the city can't do everything for everyone I hope," said Jennings.
More than 450 African asylum seekers came to Maine in the summer of 2019 after arriving in the U.S. at our southern border. The city set up an emergency shelter at the Portland Expo, and organizations worked to find homes for the influx of Africans.
In September, city councilors in Portland voted unanimously to move the roughly $870,000 in donations for asylum seekers to the city's Health and Human Services budget.
The arrival of families fleeing Angola, Congo and other countries showed that it's not just Central Americans making the journey to the southern U.S. border.
Portland City Manager Jon Jennings said he has been in communication with officials in San Antonio about the anticipated arrival of dozens of new asylum seekers.
Jennings wants to assure people the city is not overwhelmed by this latest influx. He said the city has the resources and funds from donations and the state to handle this.
"There was a lot of anxiety created in the city over the summer and it's manageable right now," said Jennings.
