Hinshaw letter: Refugees

In light of the incredibly tragic recent events in Paris, the downed Russian plane in Egypt, and countless other terrorist attacks claimed by ISIS, Gov. Butch Otter and all four members of the state’s congressional delegation want a halt or a pause in the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Idaho because of concerns of safety for our residents (which is something they can’t technically do). But like many do when they are in need of detailed information about current events, I took to the Internet. In this very rare case, my avenue of choice was Facebook. Upon hearing about this decision, I figured a good place to look for detailed information on this topic would be Gov. Butch Otter’s Facebook page. Whether you believe this choice to be the correct one or not, the issue here is the amount of racist, hurtful, fear-driven, narrow-minded comments left by my fellow Idahoans regarding Syrian refugees. I grew up here in Idaho truly believing Idaho was too great to hate. But after reading some of these horrible comments, my view drastically changed. I am truly ashamed to live in a state that hates so great. I thought we were better than that. To shame, Idaho, to shame.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 12:19 AM with the headline "Hinshaw letter: Refugees."