Effects of Refugee Resettlement in Portland and Lewiston (Auburn: low crime, home)

[simpsonsrule]

What have been the effects of refugee resettlement in Portland? I recently read that the Lewiston-Auburn area has had a difficult time placing and housing recent immigrants from Sudan and Somalia. Is this true of Portland as well, or are the difficulties (and immigration) limited to the Lewiston-Auburn area?

I live in a very diverse area of the country, and we have been having severe crime problems with the second generation of immigrants. I hope those problems will not extend to Maine.

[benditlikebekah]

I live outside of Portland, and I think most of the Lewiston problems are because of racism that mostly comes from the native Mainers, unfortunately. The former mayor made nasty comments, there were hate crimes against Somali refugees mainly because they're Muslim, etc.

In Portland, the housing projects where most refugees are resettled have bad reps, but it's my understanding that they were shady LONG before any refugees arrived in the area. And there's really no place in Maine with severe crime problems. There's not really any place in Portland I would go out of my way to avoid. (Not sure about Lewiston.) Some areas are more safe than others, but in general, Portland is pretty tame. I'm not aware of many crimes that are connected with refugee communities aside from a shooting in the East End last year... most crimes I hear about have been committed by native Mainers or similar.

Originally Posted by simpsonsrule

I live in a very diverse area of the country, .

I think Maine is approx 98% white and there are issues with racism and ignorance that need to be addressed as more and more refugees come to live here, though, because Portland is VERY divided in terms of where people live, etc. like much of the USA is.

[Shuffler]

I have to think that Maine is not on the 'short list' of desirable places for Fugees to go to. What the heck are they gonna do in Maine, anyway? There's next to no economy there to provide any broad spectrum of the low-wage jobs most immigrants would do. And I don't think Maine is the kind of place that can afford the parasitic effects of immigrants when it comes to free healthcare etc., as so many of it's own can barely make it these days.

I think these dour economic times are going to slow down immigration quite nicely...I don't have a problem with that.

Funny how nobody wants to talk about the 'real' problem at hand....population growth, largely driven by the poor and uneducated masses of 3rd World countries.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by benditlikebekah

I live outside of Portland, and I think most of the Lewiston problems are because of racism that mostly comes from the native Mainers, unfortunately. The former mayor made nasty comments, there were hate crimes against Somali refugees mainly because they're Muslim, etc. I think Maine is approx 98% white and there are issues with racism and ignorance that need to be addressed as more and more refugees come to live here, though, because Portland is VERY divided in terms of where people live, etc. like much of the USA is.

get your facts streight!! The mayor of Lewiston asked the Somali " elders" if they could in some way slow down the immigration of their people coming here. I fail to see what is nasty or racists. Most of them came from Alanta after living their for up to a decade. They are NOT refugees and have been in america for years. They group together and communicate well so when the word went out that lewiston Maine had affordable housing, low crime, GOOD social benifits....they started coming.

Fact is they didn't come here for work, they didn't come here to asimilate. I have met many Somali famlies in my travells and they are decent people who are doing nothing but taking advantage of a situation.

I also think the "Sisters of charity" through Stmary's hospitl was instrumental and establishing Lewiston as a place for them to move too. and may have assisted them greatly. Why you ask.........well guess where they all go for medical care....and guess who pays.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by benditlikebekah

I live outside of Portland, and I think most of the Lewiston problems are because of racism that mostly comes from the native Mainers, unfortunately. The former mayor made nasty comments, there were hate crimes against Somali refugees mainly because they're Muslim, etc.

In Portland, the housing projects where most refugees are resettled have bad reps, but it's my understanding that they were shady LONG before any refugees arrived in the area. And there's really no place in Maine with severe crime problems. There's not really any place in Portland I would go out of my way to avoid. (Not sure about Lewiston.) Some areas are more safe than others, but in general, Portland is pretty tame. I'm not aware of many crimes that are connected with refugee communities aside from a shooting in the East End last year... most crimes I hear about have been committed by native Mainers or similar.



I think Maine is approx 98% white and there are issues with racism and ignorance that need to be addressed as more and more refugees come to live here, though, because Portland is VERY divided in terms of where people live, etc. like much of the USA is.

Yeah his nasty comment was simply that the area could not support 3000 refugees for free! What a bad guy!! Hatemonger! He was telling the truth. Some people would take that as a sign the area had absorbed as many refugees as they could and perhaps other areas might be called upon to absorb a few as well. He was simply saying that L/A was tapped out!
Maine is 96.7% white by the way.

[benditlikebekah]

i apologize for misquoting the mayor of lewiston... the general opinion where i live is not favorable towards him so i'm a product of that i guess.

flycessna- the racism i was mentioning wasn't in reference to the mayor. that was in reference to the white supremacist rally that took place in lewiston a few years ago, and incidents like people rolling a pig's head into a mosque.

[benditlikebekah]

also, i think it's pretty unfair to call refugees 'parasitic'- yeah i understand what you're getting at in terms of draining state resources, etc. (though i might not agree, i can respect where you're coming from) but the VAST majority of refugees in maine are not there by their own choice and have only left their home countries because they were in a great amount of danger. my point being that it's not as if people from other countries come to maine of all places with the intention of usurping services meant for the rest of the state's citizens

[Maineah]

Nobody wants to deny access to the country by people escaping turmoil in another country but dumping 3000 people who do not speak the language and cannot function in OUR society is asking a bit too much of ANY area. Most of these immigrants have assimilated though they maintain a close knit community among themselves. Who can blame them they're pretty isolated. The problem was they came All At Once and really drained Lewiston's "welfare" budget. The mayor just wanted them to spread it out while the city looked for other sources of aid to help new arrivals. Among the population you will always get those who do not want a mass influx of ANY kind of people. The Irish faced these same problems in the mid 19th century after the potato famine forced many to flee their home country or starve to death. The Irish certainly looked like the vast majority of the people already here but faced condemnation by those already here as an influx of foreigners and therefore unwanted. The Irish were mostly poor and unkempt so they stuck out a bit among the citizenry. They tended to band together in "shanty towns" and took the work others did not want to do. Sound familiar?

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by benditlikebekah

i apologize for misquoting the mayor of lewiston... the general opinion where i live is not favorable towards him so i'm a product of that i guess.

flycessna- the racism i was mentioning wasn't in reference to the mayor. that was in reference to the white supremacist rally that took place in lewiston a few years ago, and incidents like people rolling a pig's head into a mosque.

The supremacist rally were not citizens of L/A. They were an organized white supremacist group that came from outside of Maine...........and I might add was an extremely weak showing of less than 20 people especially when compared to the news hype that it got. What the citizens of L/A did do was band together in their own rally against the supremacists and in support of the Somali’s in a group of 400+.

The gentlemen and the pigs head incident...........well, I knew him and he was a good man however misguided his actions were..........but he was not a racists. He struggled with mental illness and after all of the hype about the pigs head incident he shot himself in the head in the front parking lot of Marden's with several friends of mine standing with him begging him not to take his own life.

I am not blaming you.......because since being involved in so many things that have been filtered through the media outlets.....it disgusts me how warped stories get....sensationalized and politicized........I believe very little I read in the newspapers and see on local tv stations.

Lewiston is very much a blue collar town with a Franco American heritage. very much a hard working town. The Only......and I mean only complaints I have ever heard from anyone is that they do not understand why they are coming here to a depressed economy with few jobs......and it upsets them that our liberal social welfare system welcomes them. But nearly everyone who has interaction with them says they are all very nice people.

and to correct you...........the majority have not come here directly from warn torn countries.......they were settled in other areas of the country and have established residency, they come to Maine for, among other things like low crime, the liberal benifits out state has that other states do not!

[elston]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

I have to think that Maine is not on the 'short list' of desirable places for Fugees to go to. What the heck are they gonna do in Maine, anyway? There's next to no economy there to provide any broad spectrum of the low-wage jobs most immigrants would do. And I don't think Maine is the kind of place that can afford the parasitic effects of immigrants when it comes to free healthcare etc., as so many of it's own can barely make it these days.

I think these dour economic times are going to slow down immigration quite nicely...I don't have a problem with that.

Funny how nobody wants to talk about the 'real' problem at hand....population growth, largely driven by the poor and uneducated masses of 3rd World countries.

I guess the "abstinence only" training that we are funding with tax payers money and prohibitions against birth control and family planning, isnt working who knew.