Muslim Refugee industry booming in Boise

You know we can tell when a post we’ve written is getting lots of visitors and today we were scratching our heads about why our (only) previous post on Boise, ID was so popular. It has been number one for a couple of days.  We don’t know the answer, but it made me be do some searching around for more on Boise.     I was only guessing when I said at the end of that other post that the Mosque business was booming in Boise.  According to the Pluralism Project at Harvard Univ. it is!

In 1996 the Muslim community grew significantly due to the influx of computer software companies and refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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The Muslims in Boise stand apart from their neighbors visibly, as many are Middle or Far Eastern and most of the women veil themselves in public.

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……the federal government has recently begun investigating members of the community for their religious affiliations and activities.

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The majority of community members are refugees from Bosnia, Somalia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It is a predominantly younger community, with many children. In the Muslim community of Boise there are approximately 4000 Bosnian refugees, 2000 Somali refugees and 300 Afghan refugees. In total, there are 44 nations represented at the Boise Mosque.

Go to “Your state” above and scroll down to Idaho for information on Refugee Resettlement in that state.

Can the Iraq refugees go home soon?

The news out of Iraq is a huge decrease in violence. Rich Galen writes that Charlie Gibson reported on ABC:

One item from Baghdad today.  The news is… that there is no news.  The police told us that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence.  Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported.

Galen continues:

…the White House reports that in Iraq, “murders are down from a peak of over 161 reported murders per week a year ago to less than five per week” now.  Which is pretty far below the average of nearly 300 murders per week in the US.

Further, during the holy month of Ramadan, in past years violence went up. This year during Ramadan violence continued at a low level.

These are good signs. Perhaps many of the refugees can soon go home. Does our refugee policy take account of what’s now happening in Iraq?