[ozone1]

Some social services are more readily available in Maine, where cities and towns offer public assistance along with state and federal agencies. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, which provides about $125 per month per family member, is available for five years in Maine, but for only four years in Georgia. And Maine provides medical care for children of needy families, while Georgia does not.

Many of the Somalis moving to Lewiston are single mothers with children. Some officials wonder if some Somalis are moving to Maine so they can collect another year of family assistance. Other officials worry that some Somali men are sending their wives and children to Maine to collect welfare, claiming they are separated or divorced, while their husbands continue to live and work in Clarkston. The concern is great enough that Ronald Munia, a program specialist with the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, recently warned Somalis when he was a guest on a Clarkston radio show that welfare fraud is a crime that could cause them to be deported from the country.

http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/020630somalis.shtml

[Madame Dufarge]

Also from your link. I can hardly wait until Mainers start shoveling tax dollars at the new arrivals:

White isn't surprised that, of all the immigrant groups living in Clarkston, it is Somalis who say they are unhappy.

He and other local officials say Somalis have been the most difficult group to resettle and help assimilate into the community.

Most Somalis have refused help from Christian church groups. They often see themselves as distinct from the established African-American community, even though black churches are among the first to volunteer to help immigrants. Some Somalis also maintain clan affiliations that isolate them from other ethnic groups and can lead to confrontations between Somali elders. And a fair number of Somalis have had conflicts with local police, usually over things as minor as speeding tickets and stop-sign violations.

"They fuss that we don't give them breaks," White said. "They don't feel they should be held as accountable as everyone else."

White recalls the day he pulled over a Somali taxi driver for a traffic violation. As the man stopped by the roadside, he radioed other Somali taxi drivers to back him up. Soon, several other taxis were parked along the road. White says the driver argued that he had done nothing wrong. Other drivers joined in the argument or stood by glaring. White eventually issued the ticket and moved on, but he never forgot what he saw as the Somalis' efforts to intimidate him.