The recent actions taken by Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services and Gov. Paul LePage have brought to light many issues involving General Assistance and those applying for such benefits.

While claims of welfare abuse have been a hot button topic in Lewiston for a number of years, they typically have been met with vitriolic accusations of “disenfranchisement” and “unconstitutional discrimination” by those who champion the welfare state. The most recent DHHS directive addressing General Assistance for undocumented or illegal aliens has brought those contentions to a new level.

On June 24, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills stated: “If you ask one person for his or her immigration status, you have to ask everyone for that information.”

Perhaps Mills needs to be reminded that all of us “citizens” are currently required to provide a certified birth certificate (not an unofficial copy) to get a driver’s license, show a state-issued ID to buy alcohol or cigarettes and show both to get a job or auto insurance.

Requiring anyone who seeks to take the “free money” picked from the pockets of the taxpayers of Lewiston to provide the documentation necessary to prove compliance with federal law should not only be expected, but required. If that means a birth certificate, I-94, green card, immigration or ICE/INS paperwork, or whatever documentation might be required given the individual’s classification, so be it.

Bellowing straw man arguments sent out by AG Mills, along with others such as the Maine People’s Alliance and the ACLU of Maine (all of whom seem to share a passion for forcing taxpayers to accept and support illegal aliens), are knowingly dismissing and ignoring existing federal laws.

I do not accept Mills’ rationale or conclusion given the clear requirements and disqualifiers enumerated in 8 USC §1621, along with the current precedents set by the majority of the other states in the U.S.

A closer look at what other states are doing proves that Maine is behind the curve on addressing welfare abuse.

Arizona’s General Assistance statute is perhaps the clearest of any state in the U.S. Given the colossal challenges that state faces with undocumented aliens from Mexico, it is understandable.

In Arizona, R6-17-403 — Citizenship and Legal Alien Status — states: “To be eligible for GA, an applicant must be a United States citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States, as verified by the federal Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Closer to home, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (widely regarded as a bastion of welfare) bucks Mills’ opinion in 106 CMR 203.675 by asserting: “When a non-citizen applying for TAFDC indicates an inability or unwillingness to provide information about or acceptable verification of an eligible non-citizen status that individual shall be ineligible. In such cases the Department shall not continue efforts to obtain documentation or ask additional questions. Likewise, if a non-citizen applying for TAFDC indicates an inability or unwillingness to provide, or apply for, a Social Security number due to immigration status that individual shall be ineligible. The Department shall not continue efforts to obtain documentation.”

Pennsylvania’s General Assistance program was discontinued in 2012, although Medical coverage for the needy was kept intact.

Lewiston’s Social Services Department has provided data illustrating that only two new applications for General Assistance were received by asylum seekers in 2007 (less than 1 percent of all GA cases). By 2009, that number was up to 11. In 2010 there were 72 asylum seekers assisted. That number ballooned to 99 by 2011 and, this year, the number is already up to 158.

Today, nearly 19 percent of all General Assistance cases in Lewiston are undocumented aliens who have applied for (but not been granted) legal asylum in the U.S., utilizing more than $142,000 of the GA budget.

By contrast, Lewiston’s refugee population (who are properly documented legal aliens) comprise only around 8 percent of the current GA caseload, down from a high of 17 percent in 2007.

The time has come to patch the holes in Maine’s welfare boat. Like Massachusetts, requiring proper and immediate documentation for those applying for General Assistance is a logical first step and one that has a national precedent to back it up.

Michael R. Lachance is the Lewiston City Councilman from Ward 7.