AUGUSTA, Maine — In debates and on the campaign trail, former Gov. Paul LePage has laid out a simple idea to confront a labor shortage and high food costs: put asylum seekers to work.
But it directly contravenes federal laws that bar them from working for months after their arrival. The Republican has hinted at a confrontation with President Joe Biden on that and even said at a debate early this month that the state could issue its own IDs to expedite things.
None of it would solve the problem. Working without permits exposes migrants to deportation and businesses to fines. While Maine’s congressional delegation has long wanted to change laws to allow them to work faster, Congress has been paralyzed on larger immigration issues.
“They would love to be able to do it in a minute,” Dana Connors, CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said of businesses’ reaction to LePage’s idea, “but I can’t imagine that they would want to take the risk or the gamble, knowing that on the other side of that there would be a risk to both the asylum seeker but also the business itself.”
This idea is at the nexus of a few campaign-trail themes in LePage’s campaign against the Democratic governor. He has looked to soften a hard line on immigration that he held during his eight years in office, when he accused immigrants of spreading infectious diseases.
Mills reversed LePage to allow more asylum seekers to get state and local aid, something that has been credited with driving immigrants —...
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