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Hallowell Community Members Pledge Support for Immigrants

Susan Sharon
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Maine
Khalid Zamat in Mainely Groceries in Hallowell.

An Iraqi-owned grocery store in Hallowell was the setting Tuesday morning for a demonstration of small-town Maine’s support for immigrants and refugees.

Protests against President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration have been taking place at airports and in larger cities around the country. But this wasn’t a rally. Instead, local leaders came together to pledge to make places like Gardiner and Hallowell “welcoming communities” at a time when some immigrants say they feel unsafe.

For 16-year-old Ounn Zamat of Augusta, the president's order last Friday was alarming. Zamat's family is from Iraq.  He has lived in the U.S. nearly all his life, and for the first time he says he was scared to go outside, especially after the family found fliers on their doorstep and taped to the window of their grocery store.

“It said it was from traditionalists for the Ku Klux Klan,” he says.

It’s unclear where the fliers actually came from. Police say they appear to have been dropped off randomly at several dozen homes around Augusta and Freeport, but because they don’t contain a specific threat they’re not illegal.

Zamat says that’s not much comfort. His cousins also found them on their doorstep. Now, he says the close-knit Augusta community of 50 Iraqi families no longer has tea and socialize like they normally do most evenings.

“‘Cause they don’t want to step outside. They’re like, if we step outside they might do something horrible to us,” he says.

Credit Susan Sharon / Maine Public
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Maine Public
Khalid Zamat (left) greets well-wishers Tuesday at his Hallowell store, Mainely Groceries.

Both the order and the fliers have convinced residents and elected leaders that more needs to be done to make everyone feel safe.

Residents have written a letter to Trump condemning the executive order. In less than 24 hours nearly 500 people had signed it. And then they organized a small gathering at Mainely Groceries in Hallowell.

It’s a brand new store that Ounn’s father, Khalid Zamat, just opened this month. He has run a similar grocery in Augusta for the past four years and has become friendly with Thom Harnett, mayor of the nearby town of Gardiner.

Harnett says he lives by a simple rule.

“Every single human being — that’s what we’re talking about. We’re not talking about refugees, asylum seekers, lawful permanent residents. We’re talking about human beings — has the right every time and everywhere to feel safe, valued, welcome, respected and loved. And that’s what we must do together,” he says.

Credit Susan Sharon / Maine Public
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Maine Public
Shenna Bellows speaks to a group in Mainely Groceries in Hallowell.

Both Harnett and the mayor of Hallowell are now working on separate resolutions to declare their cities “welcoming communities.” Around the nation several dozen cities and towns have made similar declarations under a White House initiative started by President Barack Obama.

The idea is to recognize that immigrants and refugees contribute to economic and cultural vitality. State Rep. Charlotte Warren is a Democrat from Hallowell who is helping with the effort.

“We’re saying: We stand up. We fight back. We stand for everybody. That’s what this community is about,” she says.

But the Maine Republican Party is fighting back, too, with an appeal to members to try to defeat any political or symbolic attempts by progressives to defy Trump and immigration law at the local level.

“They don’t seem to really show much concern about for what comes after that. That’s what we’re trying to say,” says Jason Savage, the Maine GOP’s executive director.

Credit Susan Sharon / Maine Public
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Maine Public
Charlotte Warren

Savage says residents could be made unsafe by refugees who are in the country illegally without a more extensive vetting process. Those who are here legally, he says, he also welcomes.

For his part, Khalid Zamat, who came to the U.S. from Iraq in 2000, says he’s encouraged by the local show of support.

“Yes. Really, I feel safe and I’m feeling we’re not alone. We’re not alone,” he says.

His son Ounn says he’s feeling better, too. But Ounn says he doesn’t think he’ll ever truly relax until Trump has left office.