Tuesday August 20, 2024
Members of Maine’s immigrant community led a rally on Aug. 16 calling for updates to the Registry Act for Immigration Reform.
Members of Maine’s immigrant community led a rally Friday evening calling for improved access to permanent residency status.
The group called on Maine’s members of Congress to support or co-sponsor updating the Registry Act for Immigration Reform. Updating the act would provide a pathway to legal status for more than 8 million undocumented immigrants.
“The time has come for change,” Rep. Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, said at the Aug. 16 rally in Portland’s Monument Square. “We must update the Registry Act to ensure that our communities can live in peace, and pursue their American dreams unencumbered by fear or uncertainty.”
The event, which was co-sponsored by Maine People’s Alliance (of which the Beacon is a project), drew over 30 people, including immigrants and allies. A petition created by MPA calling on Maine’s members of Congress to update the Registry Act had over 540 signatures as of Monday morning.
The Registry Act, originally created in 1929, hasn’t been updated since 1986, at which time it was amended to grant a pathway to permanent residency for any immigrant who has lived in the U.S. prior to 1972. The bill currently before the U.S. House and Senate (both chambers referred it to the Judiciary Committee in 2023) would remove this cut-off date and open the Registry Act to immigrants who have resided in the U.S. for at least seven years.
Rep. Abdi, who is one of the first Somali-Americans to serve in the Maine legislature, was born in a refugee camp in Kenya and resettled in Lewiston with her family in 2009. She said while her family had support under refugee status when arriving in the U.S., there needs to be better structure and support for gaining permanent residency status. She said the lack of updates to the Registry Act fails “to reflect the evolving landscape of immigration in our country.”
“This stagnation is not only a source of national embarrassment but also a clear depiction of inhumanity,” Rep. Abdi added.
Luc Kuanzambi, of Portland, echoed this sentiment at the rally. An immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he and his family arrived in Maine in 2017 on a medical visa to receive life-saving care for his infant daughter.
“We have come here with full-fledged humanity,” Kuanzambi said. “We are not just immigrants. We are not just numbers. We are your fellow human beings.”
Other speakers at the rally included Philemon Dushimire of Burundi Community of Maine, Mardochee Mbongi, the president of COCOMaine (Congolese Community of Maine), and Benedita Kakhuba, an English language coordinator at Merrymeeting Adult Education in Topsham. Kakhuba, who came to Maine in 2019 as an asylum seeker from Angola, said her family came to the U.S. “filled with hope, dreams, and an unwavering belief in the promise of a better life.” Updating the Registry Act would fulfill that promise, she said, for her family and countless others.
“This is not just about individual families—it is about our collective strength as a community,” Kakhuba said. “Together, we can build a future where every immigrant family lives with hope and dignity, contributing to a vibrant community that thrives on diversity and strength.”
Rep. Mana Abdi, D-Lewiston, spoke at the rally for the Registry Act for Immigration Reform.