“This Is Insanity”: Portland Maine’s Liberal Redditors Turn on Migrant Policies

Users on the most popular subreddit for Portland reacted harshly Wednesday morning to the news that migrants from sub-Saharan Africa staged a protest in the streets demanding better housing and benefits.

Portland’s Reddit community, which tends lean left, appears to be changing its mind about the benefits of generous welfare policies and unlimited immigration.

Here’s a few choice quotes from this thread in reaction to news of the protest:

• This is insanity. How far are we going to let this go? We’ve given them everything we have to the point where Portland taxes are poised to go up 10% if the state doesn’t bail us out and it’s still not enough. It will never be enough.
• They shouldn’t be protesting anything. They came from terrible situations in other countries, and we are doing everything we can to help. If you let too many people on the boat, it’ll sink. That’s what we’re dealing with. We really need to get back to focusing on our own problems instead of trying to help everyone else.
• There are HUNDREDS of hardworking volunteers at this shelter. It is so incredibly rude for these people to be acting like there’s not an army of people working day and night to help them.
• Unbelievable. Asylum seekers are now turning on the city that has provided free housing and many other services at no cost to thousands of them. If this isn’t a giant f***ing wakeup call for city leadership I don’t know what will be. This entitlement from asylum seekers doesn’t help public opinion when so many Mainers and U.S. citizens are trying to keep their own heads above water and are struggling to do so.
• I’m sure most of the folks in tents at the park and ride would love to be able to stay in the expo center. I don’t know what these folks expect us to do. Do they not understand we’re already doing more for them than we are for the people who were already here?
• For real between this and the hotel, when the f*** Will we think of actual Mainers? We’ve already cast our own people to the wayside and it’s no longer a left or right thing, it’s a matter that we’re sinking our own state.
• This s*** plays so well into conservative propaganda. If the democrats don’t get it together we’re going to see a huge red wave. Mills lucked out that LePage is so incompetent. A half way decent republican could use stuff like this to roll over the left.
• Send them to a different state if they don’t like what we’re offering. 3 meals a day, water, medical and free shelter, even if it’s on the floor, is still nicer than the streets. I have a job and only eat twice a day if I’m lucky. I’ve heard rough stories coming out of Expo, the place is gonna be trashed. Put em on a bus to somewhere else if they aren’t satisfied with our services, we can barely house non-refugees as is. What idiot at city hall told them we’d have magic housing by August?
• Imagine moving to a new country illegally and then complaining after that place bends over backwards to find you free housing. And I thought Americans were entitled. I don’t think this is going to end well.
• Well well well, this sub sure has changed it’s tune from a few months ago.
• It’s amazing how quickly things change when it impacts you, eh? Don’t like it, look at the policies of those you vote for because this is a direct consequence.
• It’s a rinse/repeat cycle. Look at the mass exodus of people from places like San Francisco -> Texas, only to vote the same and ultimately cause the same issues (e.g., Austin).
• The people complaining about the conditions at the Expo must have been doing OK in whatever country they came from. Easy way to pick out whose been lying on their asylum applications. Anyone truly seeking asylum would be thanking their lucky stars that they now have access to some sort of shelter/food source. The entitlement is nauseating.
• Honestly it’s time to have them leave the state. There are Mainers literally dying, families becoming uprooted, Mainers falling into homelessness because resources that otherwise would have been diverted to them have been diverted to thousands of asylum seekers over the years. Taxes are going to rise another 10% to care for these asylum seekers putting more people struggling over the edge. Asylum seekers clearly aren’t grateful for the sacrifice Mainers have made, why should we keep sacrificing our neighbors for them?
• How many people were late for work at their jobs they pay their taxes from because of the roads being closed due to this protest?
• Everyone who has said “housing is human right” better be the first to open their doors.
• Enough housing to solve the issue isn’t going to happen. Even the bayside project, which is huge, is 1k apartments and will take 10 years to complete. Even if we fund “affordable housing,” the buildings take years to build once funded. The supply of high paying renters is also full. There is zero incentive to keep rent low because you have 10+ people who will pay it. Will they just shuffle these people around from place to place, hoping they dissipate eventually? It’s becoming more and more obvious the city has no plan. I’m genuinely unsure of how this will shake out and can’t think of any type of real, applicable solution. I wonder who is communicating the ongoing crisis to them and if they’re doing it effectively.
• You get what you voted for