Portland writer Abdi Nor Iftin called out Paul LePage and Maine Republicans for opening a Portland campaign office targeting New Mainers after spending years degrading and damaging immigrant communities and communities of color in Maine. Iftin writes, “LePage should not stand shoulder to shoulder with members of the immigrant community and claim that he cares about the same community that suffered under his leadership.” He continues, “‘a hyena will not change its spots even if it moved to a different forest.’ The former governor had already shown his true self and how he sees black and brown communities in Maine.” Iftin also warns that the Maine GOP will try to “divide new Mainers” and that LePage’s “racist rhetoric” will continue if he’s re-elected.

The op-ed comes just weeks after the Maine GOP opened a campaign office in Portland with the goal of courting votes from the New Mainer community. During his tenure as governor, LePage frequently assailed immigrants and people of color, including cruel efforts to cut off state funding for asylum seekers. Even before Iftin’s rebuke, the launch of the campaign office had not gone well. During the opening ceremony, one of the Republican speakers made a series of hateful comments while LePage stood idly by, refusing to condemn the divisive rhetoric.

Read the full op-ed here or key points below:

The Forecaster: Through My Lens: Immigrants must see past LePage’s false friendship
By Abdi Nor Iftin
April 26, 2022

Key points:

  • A few weeks ago, Paul LePage appeared alongside immigrants at their so-called “multicultural community center” in Portland, just a mile from where we stood to protest against him a few years back. This time, LePage seemed to present a different tone to rebrand himself the so-called “New LePage who is a friend to immigrants.”

  • The problem with this is that you can’t come out one day and say you are “friends to the immigrants” when the former governor’s racist remarks still ring in our heads. Paul LePage has not apologized for his previous remarks of degrading members of the New Mainers. Opening a new office in the city where immigrants are thriving is a threat to the peaceful coexistence that has been created thanks to the diversity this city had shown for the past several years.

  • We don’t have anything against Republicans or Democrats, but we have everything against any politician who attacks and hurts us. This is why I think LePage should not stand shoulder to shoulder with members of the immigrant community and claim that he cares about the same community that suffered under his leadership.

  • Seeing LePage in Portland and hearing his new remarks as he speaks about his own immigration story, the famous Malawian proverb comes to my mind: “A hyena will not change its spots even if it moved to a different forest.” The former governor had already shown his true self and how he sees black and brown communities in Maine. He sees Black Mainers as nothing less than illegal people, bringing drugs into the state, and as those who don’t want to fit in and don’t want to be Americans.

  • The new office is probably going to campaign for LePage’s reelection within the immigrant communities. They may try to divide new Mainers by country, faith or ethnicity. It is time for the Maine immigrant leaders to come together and talk to their communities about the upcoming election. If LePage is elected this November, we will see his good friend Trump visit. We may see his racist rhetoric continue. The immigrant leaders are not saying much about this. They must speak up now, and they must counter campaign. November will be here before we know.

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