Christians in Nigeria are being slaughtered by Islamic terrorist groups, but the world, and Maine’s immigration services, remain largely unaware of the issue.
“I have no specific idea about that,” said an employee of Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS), when asked what the organization was doing to help refugees from Nigeria.
On Christmas, radical Muslims carried out a massacre on Nigerian Christians, killing 140 people, according to a report by Fox News.
The religious persecution of Christians has been going on in Nigeria for many years, and has led to the deaths of over 50,000 Christians since 2009.
Little has been done by the United States or other nations to aid the Nigerians facing persecution.
In 2020, Frmr. President Donald Trump added Nigeria to the list of the worst offenders against religious freedom, but it was removed from the list under the Biden Administration.
As Maine has been expanding its taxpayer-funded immigrant resettlement efforts, the Maine Wire decided to reach out to some organizations involved in resettlement to see if anything was being done to help the suffering Christians in Nigeria.
[RELATED: Catholic Charities Maine Touts Taxpayer-Funded Migrant Resettlement Plans…]
Among those organizations was the Maine branch of Catholic Charities, which receives millions of taxpayer dollars to re-settle immigrants throughout the state and works with immigrants to ensure that they receive the maximum amount of taxpayer-funded welfare.
The Catholic Charities spokeswoman was not immediately aware of the situation in Nigeria or any Nigerian refugees who had been aided by their organization.
She told The Maine Wire that she would get the information on the number of Nigerian refugees and call back.
Catholic Charities followed up with further information.
“We resettle refugees directed to us by the United States government in the State Department and the US Refugee Assistance Program, so we take only what they refer,” said Catholic Charities “During the most recent fiscal year 2023, there were no refugees from Nigeria.”
The Maine Wire also reached out to MEIRS, Maine’s state-run immigration service.
The MEIRS employee who spoke with The Maine Wire was unaware of anything regarding Nigerian refugees or persecution, but she promised to inquire and give The Maine Wire more information.
MEIRS followed up with an email from Rilwan Osman, the organization’s executive director.
“We help anyone who comes to our office regardless of where they came from. We have not seen any Nigerians yet coming to our office, but we will help if they come to our office,” said Osman.
The Maine Wire also reached out to Maine Equal Justice, the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, and the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition (MICR), asking if any of them had done anything to help Nigerian refugees.
Only the MICR responded, saying that their organization does not comment on foreign conflicts, and focused on legal advocacy for immigrants already in Maine.
It seems that Maine is not ahead of the rest of the country in aiding Nigerians suffering from religious persecution.
