Lewiston Mayor Robert MacDonald wants to reassure the city’s Somali community that a local mailer warning of deportation of immigrants is, in his words, “made up.”
MacDonald says Somali refugees who are in this country legally have nothing to worry about. He released a statement to that effect after receiving a postcard asking him to help protect residents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“The only reason I issued that was to try to quell the fear of the refugees that are here legally. And I don’t want them looking over their shoulders, worrying about ICE and deportation and everything else because some people want to try to start something here,” he says.
The front of the post card says “Resist White Supremacy in Maine — Invest in Collective Liberation.”
More than 6,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Africa have settled in Lewiston over the past 15 years.
