Portland has been the subject of a lot of baseless innuendo and criticism in the years that Gov. LePage has been in office. Now, after failing to derail General Assistance for legally present asylum seekers, the governor is looking to smear Maine’s largest city as the kind of place that protects undocumented immigrants even if they pose a threat to public safety.

Both the anti-GA rhetoric and the recent dig at Portland are typical of a governor who’s tried hard to associate immigrants with criminal behavior – an ongoing effort that should be given no credence by Maine residents.

Gov. LePage tells the audience at a Dover, N.H., campaign stop Sunday by presidential candidate Chris Christie that Portland belongs on a list of so-called “sanctuary cities” that protect undocumented immigrants even if they pose a threat to public safety. The statement is typical of a governor who has tried hard to associate immigrants with criminal behavior. Screen shot of WCSH-6 broadcast image

Portland was drawn into the national immigration debate Sunday, when LePage accompanied Chris Christie on a New Hampshire campaign stop.

The Republican presidential candidate criticized so-called “sanctuary cities” – which, he said, allow illegal immigrants with criminal records to stay in the U.S. – and named a few of them, including San Francisco, Chicago and New York. “And Portland, Maine,” interjected LePage.

Both Christie and LePage were taking advantage of a Republican feeding frenzy fueled by a July slaying in San Francisco. The alleged attacker – an undocumented immigrant who was a convicted felon and a previous deportee – had been freed on an earlier drug charge. The city’s sanctuary policy barred local officials from notifying federal authorities of his release.

These facts are chilling. That said, there’s no good reason to fear a similar scenario in Portland.

Portland allows local law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities. And police here would inform federal agents if they had arrested someone with a deportation on his record, Chief Michael Sauschuck told the Press Herald this week.

Sunday’s swipe at Portland is part of a pattern for LePage, who’s frequently resorted to using immigrants as a political punching bag.

He and his supporters spent months trying to cut off state housing and food benefits because, they said, the General Assistance vouchers would go to “illegal aliens.”

But the truth is that GA funds help people who are here legally. Immigrants who fled violence and persecution, they are considered legal residents while they wait for the U.S. government to decide whether they can stay legally. They rely on GA to cover basic expenses before they receive federal work permits.

Cut off by LePage in July 2014, state GA funding will be restored next month, thanks to a new law that requires the state to keep providing emergency assistance for asylum seekers, most of whom live in Portland.

Unfortunately, the program is still vulnerable: The head of the state Republican Party says that cutting off the aid will be part of a 2016 statewide referendum on welfare reform.

So between now and November 2016, it’s up to fair-minded Mainers to spread the word that GA isn’t welfare and the people receiving it aren’t lawbreakers – because we know Gov. LePage won’t be doing anything to make the issue any more clear.

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