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Nation Battle over migrant kids heats up Maine gubernatorial race
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In the whitest U.S. state, thousands of miles from the Mexican border, the debate over immigration is becoming a central issue in one of the nation’s most closely watched governor’s races. With its close-knit communities and a practice of labeling nonnatives as “from away,” Mainers have a reputation for being insular. But they have also embraced the need for immigrants as the state’s population ages and declines. So Republican Gov. Paul LePage roiled the cultural waters when he criticized the federal government’s placement of eight immigrant children in Maine without advising him. He said Monday that the federal government was ducking its responsibility by leaving the border unprotected and pushing the burden onto states. He said he worries about the financial impact if more children are placed in the state.
35%
ROBERT F. BUKATY (AP)
Lewiston, Maine
Maryland stepped up its efforts Monday to recruit foster parents and solicit other assistance from the public to help with the flood of unaccompanied migrant children coming into the country from Central America. An appeal for help was posted on the state website as Gov. Martin O’Malley met in Annapolis with a group of religious leaders for the second time in as many weeks to talk about ways to assist the federal government with the crisis. (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Maine Gov. Paul LePage is one of many state leaders grappling with immigration.
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Sign of the Times The handicap symbol is getting a redesign, at least in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed into law a measure making New York the first state in the nation to replace the universal symbol with the version above, according to the bill’s sponsors. ( THE WASHINGTON POST )
age could hurt Maine’s reputation as a welcoming home for immigrants. Immigrants fleeing violence in Central Africa are drawn to Maine in part because of its safe communities and wealth of faithbased organizations that provide assistance, said Sue Roche, executive director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Maine. “It’s unfortunate that the governor makes a statement like that and it gets more publicity than all the positive things that people are doing,” Roche said. ALANNA DURKIN (AP)
“It’s all a scam started by the Democrats at the White House. This whole talk about impeachment is ... coming from Democrats.”
The proportion of Americans who have debts and unpaid bills that have been reported to collection agencies, according to a study released Tuesday by the Urban Institute. The study found that 35.1 percent of people with credit records had been reported to collections for debt that averaged $5,178, based on September 2013 records. (AP)
— House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, saying Democrats are highlighting calls for the impeachment of President Barack Obama as a fundraising ploy
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Since October, more t han 57,000 children, mostly from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, have crossed the nation’s southern border illegally. The eight minors in Maine are a fraction of the thousands sent to states including New York, California and Florida. “If we have eight kids in the state right now and if there are any state dollars going there, there are eight Mainers not getting services,” he said during a visit to a homeless shelter in Lewiston. “There’s not
an endless pot of money up there.” LePage’s re-election campaign has attacked his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, for not taking a clear stand on whether he would agree to shelter children in Maine. “[LePage’s] entire tactic is governing by division,” Michaud spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt said Friday. “He has tried very hard to pit one community in Maine against another.” Immigration advocates say LeP-
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