April 12, 2023 9:15am EDT
Maine city turns basketball arena into migrant shelter, asks residents for donations
Portland under fire for prioritizing illegal immigrants over homeless Americans amid costly shelter reopening
By Bailee Hill | Fox News
Maine's largest city is seeking donations to help mitigate the migrant surge after it reopened its historic basketball arena, the Portland Exposition Building, to house hundreds of asylum seekers.
But some residents are not happy with the city's action to overextend its already-limited housing resources as homeless Americans continue to line the streets.
Portland activist Richard Ward suggested Wednesday the municipal priorities may be upside down after claiming the city gave vagrants sleeping bags and tents while migrants were housed in the Expo Center.
"Last year they told the people that were Mainers, Americans that were homeless – they gave them tents and sleeping bags and they kind of did the same thing," Ward told "Fox & Friends First." "The Expo Center was opened up for asylum seekers and then Americans that were homeless were given tents and sleeping bags."
Ward agreed that the city "essentially" told Americans to fend for themselves as officials placed migrants seeking asylum in shelters with access to personal necessities.
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