Members of the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church of Portland are storing household items left over from a recent church rummage sale for their eventual use by Iraqi refugees.
"We have brought upon these people so much damage, and so many innocent people have been hurt. This is one way we can try to help out," said Delene Perley, chairwoman of the church's social action committee, referring to Iraqi civilians affected by the war.
Social-service providers say 200 or so Iraqis now living elsewhere in the United States might move to the Portland area in coming months. Already, since Oct. 20, the city's Department of Human Services has worked with eight families totaling 52 people.
News of the possible migration has triggered resentment among some residents and questions about whether the U.S. and Maine economies can absorb refugees right now. But some of the Mainers who have stepped forward to help say the country has an obligation to assist those displaced by the war.
"These are people who worked with the Americans, many of them," said Danny Muller, executive director of Peace Action Maine. "They are our allies in any sense of the word, and they are refugees because of their work with the U.S."
Muller says many of the Iraqi refugees probably supported the war at its outset, reasoning that any circumstance was preferable to Saddam Hussein. But the war and enduring violence have uprooted their lives.
News that hundreds of new refugees might be coming to Portland prompted spirited debate on some online discussion boards, with many people saying the refugees would absorb scarce resources from agencies or take jobs from Americans.
But Dan Billings, an attorney and Republican activist, had a different take in his postings on "As Maine Goes," a conservative political Web site.
"I look at Iraqi refugees a bit differently. We did decide to fight a war there and helped create new refugees," Billings wrote. "Didn't Colin Powell say, 'If you break it, you buy it'?"
Billings said he wasn't surprised by people's wariness regarding refugees.
"You have a concern about the effects of immigration generally and more specifically in this case, people are concerned about the costs imposed by refugees who may need help because of their circumstances," Billings said.
"My point of view is I'm more sympathetic to providing some short-term help to people who may be in tough circumstances through no fault of their own, than providing long-term help to those who may have been born here who for some reason haven't taken advantage of all the country has to offer," he said.
Billings said he can relate to people who saw their society crumble and are seeking a safe home to raise their families, and suspects many Mainers would feel the same way.
"Part of the strength of our country has been immigrants and what they've contributed to our society," he said.
The Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform opposes current U.S. immigration policies as excessively liberal, allowing too many people to come to the U.S. without any regard for the skills they bring to the country.
"The refugee issue is somewhat different. People who are legitimate refugees are coming here because they are fleeing some kind of peril in their homeland," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the group. "This humanitarian policy is just that. If someone is in danger of being killed, that's very different than somebody who simply wants to come here for understandable reasons," such as economic opportunity, he said.
Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at dhench@pressherald.com
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