Hundreds of asylum seekers filed into a basketball arena in Portland on Monday as Maine's largest city deals with a months-long surge in immigration that has taxed its already limited housing market.
It's the second time in recent years that Portland has repurposed the Portland Exposition Building -- a century-old red-brick gym that houses a minor league basketball team and has hosted everyone from President John F. Kennedy to the Beach Boys -- to serve migrants. The floor of the arena was lined with cots as families carried in bags of clothes, food and personal possessions.
