Heads exploded in newsrooms from Bangor to Portland and beyond last week when Paul LePage said that he favors cutting off welfare benefits to the legions of so-called “asylum seekers” who have overwhelmed Portland’s homeless shelters.
How dare he challenge the prevailing wisdom of the swamp!
Doesn’t he know the catechism? “All immigration is good, more immigration is better, and illegal immigration from the Third World is best.”
From far-Left Democrats waging their war on whiteness, to the cheap-labor lobby of Chamber maids in the GOP, the Augusta establishment is all in for open borders.
All the really smart, virtuous people at the Statehouse believe these “new Mainers” who crashed the southern border and boarded buses for Portland are the key to solving Maine’s perennial workforce shortage. So of course we should provide free food, housing, education, and medical care for the newcomers.
Not so fast!
With the backing of supporters like you, Maine First Project has actively engaged in the often lonely fight to put Mainers first. Thanks to you, we have put together a peaceful and patriotic grassroots army committed to defeating legislation that prioritizes so-called “new Mainers” over the real Mainers who live and work and pay taxes here — and play by the rules.
But this fight is far from over.
That’s why, today, I’m asking you to make a contribution to Maine First Project of $10, $25, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford, so we can expand our reach and mobilize more Mainers to enlist in our grassroots army of activists.
The fact is, the estimated 1,500 foreign-born non-citizens who arrived in Portland from the southern border in Texas over the past year are now being housed at taxpayer expense in a dozen hotels across Cumberland and York Counties.
Following LePage’s pledge to cut off public funding, Maine’s woke media mob immediately launched a disinformation campaign aimed at painting LePage as a heartless bigot intent on slashing the social safety net.
The Fake News media’s knee-jerk reaction was as predictable as it was dishonest, so allow me to set the record straight.
Here’s the unvarnished truth about the newcomers: the vast majority of them — more than 80% — are not eligible for asylum, and have no right to be here.
But while their applications are pending for the next couple of years, Maine taxpayers will provide them with food, housing, education, and medical care. Never mind that Maine is a poor state with a housing shortage, and that we currently have 25,000 Mainers on waitlists for affordable housing.
The statistics on asylum seekers are undeniable, but you’ll never hear about the data from any lamestream media outlet in Maine.
Statistics from the US Department of Justice indicate that out of every 100 aliens who claimed “a credible fear of persecution” between 2008 and 2019, only 14 were granted asylum.
There’s no reason to believe those percentages won’t hold true for the 1,500 non-citizens who made their way to Portland over the past year.
The fact is, more than 80% of them are illegal immigrants who have no right to be here — let alone be funded by you. And when their asylum applications are denied or withdrawn in a year or two, nobody expects them to voluntarily self-deport.
You and I understand, we’ll never read about it in the Bangor Daily News or the Portland Press Herald, even on the opinion pages. That’s because those rags are in the propaganda business, not the journalism business.
The partisan hacks in the newsrooms know that welfare for non-citizens is one of those hot-button “culture war” issues that could swing this fall’s midterm elections against the party in power in Augusta and DC.
Together, we’ve worked hard for some recent victories in our once-great state. But the truth is, the work is far from over. As long as woke Social Justice Snowflakes continue their campaign to turn Maine into a rural New England version of San Francisco, we cannot relent.
I’m grateful to have you next to me in the trenches. Thank you for your continued and loyal support of Maine First Project.
Sincerely,
Hon. Lawrence Lockman
Maine House of Representatives, 2012-2020
Co-founder & President
Maine First Project
P.S.
I’m proud to say, Maine First Project is the only organization in Maine ready, willing, and able to take this fight to the open-borders radicals and their allies in the lamestream newsrooms.
We want to make sure you’re prioritized over illegals who shouldn’t be here in the first place.
That’s why, today, I’m asking you to make a contribution to Maine First Project of $10, $25, $50, $100, or whatever you can afford, so we can double down on our fight fending off efforts by the swamp critters to hand over your hard-earned cash to illegal immigrants.