PORTLAND, Maine — Asylum seekers staying at the Portland Expo are protesting the living conditions at the facility.
Protestors told NEWS CENTER Maine they have limited access to food and showers, and they sleep on makeshift beds. Asylum seekers said people are sick and medical help is hard to come by.
Asylees said the inspiration behind the protest was hearing they were being kicked out in August, when the shelter is set to close.
Traffic was diverted off of Park Avenue on Wednesday morning due to the protest. It later reopened.
Roughly 300 people seeking asylum are staying at the Portland Expo, which is slated to end its services for those people on Aug. 16. The city stopped allowing additional asylum seekers from staying at the Expo in early June.
"They are facing this type of depression because they are still waiting for housing. They are waiting for housing and, until today, they only have promises and nothing happens," Titi de Baccarat, who was helping translate for protestors on Wednesday morning, said. "I'm begging you people from Portland, from Saco, Biddeford, the state of Maine. I'm begging you to do something for those people."
Portland City Council voted 8-1 on June 12 in favor of a new asylum seeker shelter plan.
The City of Portland secured a new location to open an emergency shelter specifically for asylum seekers, according to a memorandum issued by the city on June 9.
Kevin Bunker, the developer for the project, said he and the city have secured a location on Riverside Parkway near the city's golf course. It will include wraparound services for about 180 people seeking asylum. According to the memorandum, the project will be funded by a $4,596,160 grant from the Maine State Housing Authority to DC Blueberry LLC and the Center for Regional Prosperity.
The project was awaiting approval from councilors before moving forward. With the vote on June 12, it can advance.
Bunker said city employees would staff it at first, but ultimately the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition would take over services once it gets staffed. Bunker said that the process should take about 18 months.
"Anyone seeing what's going on and hearing the struggles the city has with all the folks that are coming in, kind of seeing some of their stories, anybody would try to help. And I just happened to be in a position where I'm able to have some agency on it, so I just started digging," Bunker said. "I think of these buildings as social infrastructure. That's a term I've been using more and more lately, just like you need roads and bridges."
But the newly approved asylum seeker shelter will only house single asylum seekers. Families will not be allowed, according to Portland Department of Health and Human Services Director Kristen Dow.
City staff said all the asylum seekers at the Expo are families.
As it stands, there is no immediate answer for where these people can go.
"It's an unsatisfying answer we don't have solutions right now," City Manager Danielle West said. "So far, we need more help. We consistently ask for that, and we have to keep asking for that, not just here at the Expo but from around the city."
Gov. Janet Mills' chief of staff wrote a letter to Portland staff on June 9, saying the governor supports this shelter and encourages the council to endorse the project. A city spokesperson said they are excited to have the new option and that they need extra space to take care of the people already here.
At the city's new Homeless Services Center, more than 60 percent of people staying there are asylum seekers.
"Portland has consistently not only said they're a welcoming city, but when they get behind something like the HSC and essentially fund it, they put their money where their mouth is," Bunker said. "They've certainly extended the welcome hand to asylum seekers consistently. This is just a way of sort of delivering on that."
Bunker said the shelter is set to open in the fall. He said the contract for the space is for three years.
For the latest breaking news, weather, and traffic alerts, download the NEWS CENTER Maine mobile app.