Twin Falls, Idaho, turned against refugee resettlement after false accounts of the sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl by two minor refugee boys. Conspiracy theories proliferated and residents demanded action from city leaders. Since the victim and the perpetrators were all minors, many of the details of the case were sealed, which only fueled speculation.
From the New York Times Magazine:
Read Full Article »The refugee resettlement center received a dramatic increase in donations from local residents during the last year. But those in the town who support the program have often been drowned out by the relatively smaller, but louder, group of activists who oppose it. Brown said he expected to see an anti-Shariah bill introduced in the State Legislature when the next session starts in 2018. Bills like this, which try to bar Islamic law from being used in American courts, have been introduced in the past two years in Boise but never passed. He speculated that the momentum of the past year could force a different outcome. “There are a lot of people who feel like society is changing too quickly, like the community is changing too quickly,” he told me. “And who view other people not like them or who don't speak their language as a threat or a sign that their culture is going to be weakened. And they want to do what they can to stop that.”
