The president of Unity College has responded to a proposal by Portland city officials to house asylum seeking migrants at the college, saying that currently there is no comprehensive plan in place for the Waldo County campus to operate as transitional housing for asylees.
On June 29, Portland Mayor Kate Snyder and City Manager Danielle West sent a letter to Gov. Janet Mills asking for help in moving around 300 people from the Portland Exposition Building into alternative transitional housing arrangements before August 16, when the Expo will cease its operation as an emergency shelter for asylum seekers.
Last Wednesday, after learning that they would be kicked out of the Expo in August, migrants protested outside of the building in order to bring attention to the “deplorable conditions” at the shelter, and their lack of housing options after the August deadline.
City Manager West and Mayor Snyder held a press briefing following the protest, saying that they spoke with the migrants about their concerns and were working on several possible accommodation options for the asylum seekers.
The next day, West and Snyder called upon Gov. Mills to help them to either house the asylum seekers at Unity College’s Waldo County campus in Unity, or to call in the National Guard to operate an emergency shelter.
The letter calls upon the governor to support the Greater Portland Council of Governments’ (GPCOG) proposal to “use Unity College dorms and campus amenities to provide transitional housing for Asylum Seekers.”
West and Snyder wrote that due to a general lack of housing supply, it is “unlikely that every family sheltered at the Expo will be successfully transitioned to a housing placement by the time it is decommissioned as an emergency shelter.”
If Unity College cannot be used, West and Snyder are asking the Governor to “call up the National Guard to stand up and operate an emergency shelter for asylum seekers.”
“We acknowledge that this an emergency tool that any governor would be cautious to employ,” the city officials wrote.
“That said, as we continue our work with the City’s encampment crisis response team to address the people we have currently sleeping outdoors, we believe that the unprecedented need facing both the asylum seekers and the circumstantially unhoused, coupled with the lack of shelter options, municipal or nonprofit operators, and the likely expiration of the emergency rental assistance (ERA) program constitutes a crisis that requires the prompt use of this emergency tool,” they wrote.
On Friday June 30, Unity College President Dr. Melik Peter Khoury responded to the GPCOG proposal in a written statement, outlining the conditions for the college agreeing to house asylum seekers.
“Before asylum seekers could be housed at Unity Environmental University’s campus in Unity there would need to be a comprehensive plan between the institution, the town, the state, county agencies, and advocacy groups, as well as adequate funding,” President Khoury said.
“At this time, no such plan exists. The number of asylees that could be housed at our Quaker Hill Road facilities would depend on a range of factors,” he said.
“There has not been a meeting between GPCOG, Unity Environmental University, the Governor’s Office, and the Town of Unity to discuss the full scope, feasibility, timing, and infrastructure support required to effectively accommodate and provide for the potential influx of asylees at our Quaker Hill Road facilities. We remain willing to help, but will not put the cart before the horse.”
The reason Unity has been selected for the housing of 600 Seekers:
Dr. Melik Khoury wants to sell the campus and make Unity courses 100% online.
The college’s board of trustees authorized Khoury to explore the sale of the main campus (Statement on Unity website has been deleted).
“If there is not a critical mass of students,” he asks, “what are our options?”
“We need a critical mass of 350 students in residence. We are below that threshold.”
Dr. Khoury is also racist and enjoys scolding people for wrong think:
I ask about his alleged yelling and swearing in faculty meetings, the conversation turns heated. “That almost sounds racist,” Khoury says. “I am a brown man who is passionate. You see me. I move my hands when I talk.” He gestures for effect. “What happened to the inclusive society that welcomes all?” “I’m not Lebanese,” he says. “Have you seen my birth certificate? I’m a naturalized American. Would you ask that question of a white man?”“You’re ascribing a bias towards me,” Khoury continues. “I know I’m not welcome in your country.”
Interesting facts:
Dr Melik Khoury was born in Sierra Leone to a Lebanese father and an English mother. He spent his childhood in the tiny West African nation The Gambia.
Dr. Khoury earned his doctorate in business administration online through the University of Phoenix in 2011.
An online poll of 145 alumni, ex-professors, and neighbors around town, scored Khoury a 98.6 percent disapproval rating.
The perfect leftist operative to carry globalist agendas to spectacular outcomes. Enjoy your 600 new residents Unity! 🙂
Everyone who agreed to be a ‘sanctuary city/town’ brought this on themselves. Let all the illegal aliens move into city hall and each councilor’s and mayor’s residence, you can include the Blaine House too. I do not see any of them all the way to Augusta giving a sh*t about the homeless vets and Americans. The illegal aliens can all leave if they don’t like it here.
Labeling foreign nationals that illegally enter our homeland as “asylum seekers” aids & abets the invasion of the USA !
It is impossible for anyone to travel from the African continent to Maine without passing through safe countries.
Would any sane person let an uninvited stranger occupy their home and enjoy all the benefits of dependents?
Bringing in migrants is a bad idea because:
1. It will lower the standard of living.
2. It will increase crime.
3. It will change the character of the receiving neighborhood.
Just look at what mass immigration did to Sweden.
Portland’s sad excuse for governance passes the buck to Unity to make Portland’s problem someone else’.
It’s a leftist version of 3 Card Monte where the Dems get off by looking virtuous and everyone else pays the price for playing.
Don’t invite them here based upon “Compassion” when you fail to have a plan and budget firmly in place. But then again, when has a democrat ever had a plan that actually worked?! Crickets.
All those in favor of asylum seekers raise your hands and open the doors to your house and stop volunteering the burden to be picked up by the rest of society. Put up of Shut Up as the old expression goes.
Stop importing people who could have stayed in many other countries along their expensive route to the U.S. and Stop importing people who don’t want to assimilate into our society period! Where they got the money to make the journey? Soros knows.
There are no Third World Countries only Third World People . These INVADERS have no desire to assimalate into the AMERICAN CULTURE or to learn the language and they have already shown complete disrespect for the laws of the land , Sooo the only answer is Forced Deportation . Sweden and Denmark and Hungary are already engaging in this … Unless you want what is going on in Paris on you door step end the Invasion .