MAINE, USA — Almost 52,000 immigrants currently call Maine home, which is about four percent of the state's population, according to the American Immigration Council. The council also states immigrants make up about four percent of Maine's workforce, which has been estimated to lose about 65,000 aging Mainers in this decade through 2030.
Immigrants are one way to bridge the workforce gaps. Knowing the state must attract more working-age people from other countries, Gov. Mills established The Office of New Americans by passing her supplemental budget on Monday.
The office will help new immigrants integrate into the state's workforce and identify barriers to support them.
One of the biggest challenges for immigrants and asylum seekers is the paperwork required to work legally. The federal government requires asylum seekers to wait 180 days, or six months, after moving to the U.S. before they can get a work authorization which allows them to work legally.
"It's extremely frustrating to talk to someone who, you know, they're passed the mandatory waiting period, and they're just waiting for their paperwork," Luke's Lobster co-founder Ben Conniff said.
Luke's Lobster's processing plant in Saco employs about 100 people, three-quarters of them being immigrants, he said. He said not many native Mainers are seeking jobs in food production, so many lobster production plants are staffed with immigrants.
"If we didn't have a workforce coming from other countries, we wouldn't have a huge portion of our lobster industry here in Maine," Conniff said.
Cedrick Kyungu is a supervisor at Luke's Lobster's plant in Saco. Kyungu has been working there for about a year, quickly moving up the ranks. He said he moved to Maine two years ago, but didn't have a work authorization to begin work for almost a year.
"It was very challenging and very frustrating, but [I had] no choice," he said.
Conniff said allowing immigrants to work will contribute to the whole economy.
"Some of the work restrictions out there right now are really harmful," Conniff said. "They’re forcing people who just want to work and support themselves and contribute to take services from the government."
While the office can't change federal restrictions, it will offer services and workforce pathways. The office will be a department within the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and Future. Its spokesperson, Tony Ronzio, said he anticipates the office will be operational later this year.