Mainers deserve investment in our health and stability — not family separation

Yahoo

21-04-2025

Voces de la Frontera gather alongside allies in Milwaukee for a protest on May Day, 2021. (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)
Maine voters send our elected officials to Washington to solve problems — not make them worse. But Congress is moving forward with budget plans that would harm the health, stability, and well-being of Maine's families, aging residents, and immigrant communities. Fortunately, Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and our representatives have the opportunity to reject these dangerous proposals and fund real solutions.
The proposals being advanced by Congress would slash funding for healthcare and food assistance that Mainers rely on and funnel billions into expanding the Trump administration's capacity to separate families and put immigrants in detention — severely compromising our communities' health, safety, and stability.
As the oldest state in the country, Maine communities rely on Medicaid and a strong healthcare system to stay healthy. More than 350,700 Mainers rely on Medicaid, which faces billions in budget cuts under these proposals. These cuts could cause devastating damage to our healthcare economy. Community health centers — serving 204,000 patients at 174 clinics across the state — would likely have to close their doors, costing over 2,200 jobs.
Our families also depend on food assistance, but the current budget proposals threaten to take it away. On top of the USDA cuts that pull food from the shelves of distributors like Good Shepherd Food Bank, Congress's proposals would sharply cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding, which feeds over 172,200 — or one in eight — Maine residents.
While these budget plans make devastating cuts to programs that Maine's young and old depend on, they authorize Congress to allocate billions to separate families and uproot workers who call Maine home.
Immigrants are integral members of our state's communities, but Congress's budget proposals include up to $350 billion — potentially up to a half-trillion — to drastically expand the Trump administration's ability to detain and deport our immigrant neighbors. The administration's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency recently put out a request for proposal for new detention centers — potential contracts totaling up to $45 billion. The funding to pay for them would come directly from taxpayers.
The devastation from this inhumane investment would be felt most acutely by our families and economy. Over 20,500 children in Maine have at least one immigrant parent. As of 2023, nearly 53,450 immigrants live in Maine — and though they make up only 3.8% of the state's population, immigrant workers account for nearly 5% of the state's labor force, filling critical gaps as older generations retire. In 2023 alone, Maine's immigrant residents paid $625.8 million in taxes, contributing to the Medicare, Social Security, and other programs that Mainers depend on.
Instead of taking taxpayers' dollars away from healthcare and nutrition to fund family separation and tax breaks for the wealthy, Congress must invest in solutions that enhance the health, stability, and family unity of all Mainers. They should invest in less costly, more supportive services like legal representation that uphold the right to due process and help people navigate the immigration system without taking them away from their families, communities, and jobs. And they should maintain and support our nation's longstanding investment in healthcare and food assistance.
The stakes for our communities couldn't be higher, and the budget decisions made by Congress this spring will have long-lasting consequences. As Maine's members of Congress move forward with their debates on budget reconciliation, we urge them to remember this: the health and stability of our communities is in your hands; we send you to Washington to solve problems and deliver solutions that give every Mainer a fair shot at building a safe, healthy, and meaningful life.
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