US EditionMaine to resettle 50 refugees from South Africa
Maine will resettle 50 white South African refugees this year, a 95% drop from last year's allocation amid federal funding cuts and new refugee admission caps.
- Next week, Maine will receive 50 white South African refugees, with Lewiston-based Maine Immigrant & Refugee Services managing all arrivals.
- The Trump administration capped annual refugee admissions at 7,500 and a presidential notice prioritizes Afrikaners described as victims of unjust racial discrimination, a claim the South African government denies.
- A steep cut reduced Maine's allocation to 50 this year, a 95% reduction from the 950 allocated last year and about 500 actually resettled, Inza Ouattara said.
- Funding cuts have shrunk local capacity, forcing Catholic Charities Maine and the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine to close programs and reducing staff from about 16 to eight.
- As arrivals settle, officials note they are 'free cases' without anchor communities and may move after 90 days, with Ouattara citing uncertainty due to federal policy changes.
7 Articles
7 Articles
Maine Will only Resettle 50 Refugees This Year After Trump Drastically Lowered the Refugee Cap
Maine will only resettle 50 refugees through the federal refugee program in the 2026 fiscal year after President Donald Trump drastically reduced the annual refugee resettlement cap from 125,000 to just 7,500, implementors in the state say. [RELATED: Trump Dramatically Reduces Number of Refugees To Be Accepted into the U.S….] Maine State Refugee Coordinator Inza [...] The post Maine Will only Resettle 50 Refugees This Year After Trump Drasticall…
Maine will resettle 50 white South Africans through federal refugee program
Maine will resettle only 50 people through the federal refugee program over the next year, all of them white South Africans. That’s according to Inza Ouattara, state refugee coordinator through Catholic Charities Maine, who said last year the state resettled close to 500 refugees. “That’s way below, you know, what we were expecting last fiscal year,” he said. Outtara said Maine is also down to one federally-approved resettlement agency, the Lewi…
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 57% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
