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Dear MIRC Community,
Happy Friday! I write to you all today on a very exciting Friday, while August slipped away into a moment in time (congrats, Taylor on the engagement!), we find ourselves with the return to school and a three-day weekend. The long weekend commemorates Labor Day! Labor Day was created by the labor movement in the late 19th century to honor American workers’ contributions and became a federal holiday in 1894. Labor Day weekend also symbolizes the end of summer for many Americans and is celebrated with parties, street parades, and athletic events.
Also, today marks College Football Eve (yes, technically, there were some games last week, but this week really kicks things off!) for your author. A time of year when my TV shows different schools from across the country competing against each other to see who comes out on top. If college football isn’t your thing, NFL football kicks off next week (best of luck to everyone drafting their fantasy teams!).
Before we head into the jam-packed weekend, let’s get on to the MIRC Advocacy Update:
| Local |
| We are excited to announce a new monthly newsletter at MIRC. Sign up for our new monthly MIRC newsletter focused on events, actions, and opportunities for immigrants across Maine. You’ll also get to learn more about the organizations that make up our coalition, as we’ll be giving a spotlight to one in each issue. |
| Some of the work being done by faith and community groups was recently highlighted in the Maine Monitor and Portland Press Herald. Read the full article here. |
| One of Bangor’s few overnight warming shelters won’t open this winter. The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter will discontinue its warming center to focus on adding more shelter beds, according to Director Boyd Kronholm. |
| The City of Portland Clerk’s office is seeking volunteers to serve on various boards and committees, which all play an important role in Portland’s government. Residents can find the full position descriptions, along with application directions, on the City’s website. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 5th; applicants will be contacted for interviews. |
| A far-right activist was one of 11 potential candidates considering running for three open seats on the council this November. |
| Tenants will move into a former Bangor inn next week. The opening of the housing facility intended to combat homelessness comes nearly six months after its ribbon-cutting ceremony. |
| FREE Mentorship Program for Forcibly Displaced People – Apply by October 15th – The Tent Partnership for Refugees invites eligible refugees to join a free professional mentorship program pairing participants with mentors from top U.S. companies like Accenture, Hilton, and Pfizer. Mentors provide one-on-one support over six months to help you refine your career goals, build your resume, and expand your network. Apply by October 15 for priority matching, though applications are accepted year-round. Refugees who speak English or Spanish are encouraged to sign up. |
| MANA’s “Things She Carries” program offers bi-monthly sessions to create safe spaces for women to metaphorically “declutter and dump their heavy bags.” Participants take a pause from their busy lives for self-care and for reflection on their life journeys. We have moved intentionally into 2025 and have been adding dance, movement, and art to balance our energy! Follow this link to sign up for “Things She Carries”. |
| The Welcoming the Stranger mentoring program is now in its tenth year! WTS matches volunteers with asylum-seeking individuals or families to provide a warm welcome to the Greater Portland community. They are also piloting a youth mentoring program. Apply to become a volunteer mentor or an immigrant mentee! |
| Portland Housing Authority executive director resigns after 2 years. Brian Frost stepped down on July 31, and a permanent successor is expected to be hired by January 2. |
| Our friends at United Way Southern Maine are looking to recruit more volunteers for the upcoming tax season! They have two volunteer roles available. Tax Preparers: No experience needed! Full training provided. Opportunity Guides: These volunteers sit with clients, learn about their financial goals, and connect them with local resources that can help them succeed. Both roles are incredibly rewarding, and volunteers become part of a dynamic, supportive team. The ask is for a commitment of 3 hours per week from late January to mid-April. If you’re interested or know someone who might be, please reach out to Lucia Rico at lrico@uwsme.org |
| Portland City Council members and Mayor Mark Dion voted 5-4 to place a question that would increase the minimum wage to $19 an hour by 2028 on the November 4th ballot. The city’s minimum wage is currently $15.50 an hour. Under this proposal, it would jump to $16.75 per hour in 2026, $17.75 in 2027, and then $19 an hour in 2028. After that, the wage would keep pace with cost-of-living increases. |
| Old Town is planning to track residents and visitors with artificial intelligence. The AI program uses data collected from smartphones of people, including where they were before and went after being in a specific area. |
| State |
| The court decision in the Maine State Chamber of Commerce/Bath Iron Works lawsuit is in favor of the Maine Department of Labor and affirms that the rules for Maine’s PFML program are constitutional and legal. This is good news that upholds the law and supports the ongoing implementation of the paid leave program. For more information, here is the release from MDOL, an article from the Maine Morning Star, and the PFML Coalition’s Facebook post. |
| If it seems like a lot of people are running to be the next governor of Maine, it’s because there are. So far, 18 people have filed paperwork with the state to begin raising and spending money on a campaign — the most at this point for an open seat in more than 20 years. |
| If you’re interested in finding a Labor Day event near you, our friends at the Maine AFL-CIO have put together a list of events occurring around the state celebrating Labor Day. Find an event to bring a friend to here. |
| This November, a ballot question will ask voters if they want to implement broad changes to our elections that include stripping down absentee voting, a popular service that thousands of Mainers use. The Save Maine Absentee Voting coalition, including the League of Women Voters of Maine, is fighting back against this initiative. Sign up here to canvass |
| Senate Majority Leader Teresa S. Pierce, D-Falmouth, State Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, and State Rep. Anne Graham, D-North Yarmouth, announced on Aug. 25 upcoming constituent office hours in Falmouth and Gray for residents of Senate District 25, House District 105, and House District 111. Constituent office hours provide residents a chance to meet with their representatives, share ideas, ask questions, and get help connecting with state government services. Office hours in Falmouth will take place on Sept. 2, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Falmouth Memorial Library with Pierce and Kuhn. Constituent office hours in Gray will take place on Sept. 5, from noon to 1 p.m. at Gray Public Library with Pierce and Graham. |
| The popular Harvest Bucks program, which provides incentives for Mainers to spend their SNAP benefits on local produce, will be slashed in half beginning Sept. 1 as the federal U.S. Department of Agriculture grant that helps fund the program is on hold for the coming year. |
| Maine voters can now request absentee ballots for the upcoming November 4 election. While the ballots won’t be available until early October, Maine law permits voters to request them up to three months before the election. Absentee ballots can be requested online or by contacting the local municipal clerk. Once a ballot has been requested, voters can track the process online. If a replacement ballot is required, voters should contact their municipal clerk. (It took me no more than 3 minutes to request my ballot!) |
| As the new school year begins, a new Back-to-School Guide includes resources to help educators, administrators, and early childhood and childcare providers keep children and families safe amid increased immigration enforcement. The guide features information and tools prepared by UnidosUS, the National Immigration Law Center, Immigrants Rising, and more. |
| Maine Morning Star will be highlighting news relevant to the November 4th election. The 2026 midterm election in November will feature several races, including an open race for the state’s next governor, and elections challenging incumbent Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree in the U.S. House of Representatives and Sen. Susan Collins in the U.S. Senate. You can follow along here. |
| The Maine Secretary of State’s Office has confirmed that the Transportation Security Administration screeners have not accepted some Real ID-compliant driver’s licenses issued by the state at airports. The TSA is encouraging anyone who plans to fly domestically and is concerned that their Real ID license will not scan properly to carry an acceptable alternate form of identification. |
| Federal |
| The Washington Post reported on a leaked internal planning document from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which outlines a goal to more than double immigration detention capacity from 50,000 people to roughly 107,000 by the end of 2025. The agency reportedly intends to open or expand 125 facilities this year, relying more on “soft-sided” structures that can be built in weeks. The plan is to be paid for by $45 billion recently allocated by Congress to ICE. |
| Recent studies issued or reported on by various groups, such as The Economist, Forbes, fwd.us, and the Economic Policy Institute, have shown the devastating impacts of ending important programs that provided migrants with temporary legal status and work authorization in the United States. The significant escalation of detention and deportation have only exacerbated these effects. |
| Last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued Policy Memorandum 602-0188 on restoring a “rigorous, holistic, and comprehensive” good moral character (GMC) evaluation standard in naturalization adjudications. The memo establishes a “totality of the circumstances” approach to evaluating GMC, specifying that “USCIS officers must account for … positive attributes and not simply the absence of misconduct.” This suggests applicants may be required to offer affirmative evidence of GMC to meet their burdens, even in the absence of negative factors. |
| On Aug. 11, 2025, the BIA published a decision about fee waiver adjudications, Matter of Garcia Martinez, 29 I&N Dec. 169 (BIA 2025). The BIA held that a non-detained individual who is represented by private counsel is presumed to have the ability to pay any required filing fees before the Immigration Judge and the Board. In addition, the BIA held that a fee waiver request from a non-detained adult that contains zeros in all income blocks is presumptively invalid. |
| Many people with little or no criminal record have been swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration dragnet since January, an analysis of deportation data shows. Over 1,800 people with traffic violations have been deported this year, and people with no criminal record make up two-thirds of the more than 120,000 people deported between January and May. Another 8% were deported for unauthorized U.S. entry, and about 12 % were convicted of a crime that was violent or potentially violent. |
| As the U.S. resettlement program remains paused amid an ongoing litigation, the administration is weighing setting a new annual limit of refugee admission that would be set at around 40,000, with a large majority of spots reserved for white South Africans, reports Ted Hesson of Reuters. The proposed cap represents a steep decline from the cap of over 100,000 refugee admissions set in recent fiscal years |
| ICE’s latest data on 287(g) agreements across the country continues to show massive growth. As of August 15, 896 Memoranda of Agreement (MOAs) were in place across about 690 agencies. The largest growth comes from the most aggressive Task Force Model of 287(g), which has expanded to 443 jurisdictions—or nearly half of all MOAs. |
| This summer, Congress and the Trump administration took unprecedented actions to limit access to public benefits for immigrants. Join our friends at PIF on September 8, 2025, 1:00-2:00 pm ET for a webinar to learn about the latest legislative and regulatory changes to immigrant eligibility for public programs and the implications of these changes on immigrants and states. |
| The Florida Everglades detention center, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” is emptying after a federal judge ruled last week that the site must be closed. You can read more about the Miccosukee tribe that played a key role in its closing here. |
| The Trump administration is resurrecting a long-dormant practice of conducting “neighborhood checks” to vet immigrants applying for U.S. citizenship, according to a government memo obtained by CBS. This expands efforts to aggressively scrutinize applicants. The checks would involve investigations by immigration officials that could include interviews with an applicant’s neighbors and coworkers. Although such investigations are allowed by federal law, the government has waived the practice since 1991. |
| This summer, Congress and the Trump administration took unprecedented actions to limit access to public benefits for immigrants. Join our friends at Protecting Immigrant Families for a webinar to learn about the latest legislative and regulatory changes to immigrant eligibility for public programs and the implications of these changes on immigrants and states. Register here. |
| A new Cato Institute analysis finds immigrants are more likely than U.S.-born individuals to report crime, reports Lauren Villagran of USA Today. The research also corroborates decades of findings that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than their U.S.-born counterparts. |
Well, you can’t say I didnt leave you without reading material to head into the weekend with! While we try our best to cover most of the news and stories from our Coalition, I probably missed some. Please feel free to share any highlights I missed, and you may see them featured in the next edition of our updates.
Before we head off to the weekend, don’t forget to be a friend and tell a friend something nice; it could change their life!
Best,
Ruben Torres
Advocacy and Policy Manager