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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — About 100 people holding "Idaho is too great to hate" signs rallied inside the Idaho Statehouse on Thursday evening to protest an anti-Islam and Syrian refugee resettlement presentation.
The demonstration organized by the Interfaith Equality Coalition lined the walls of the Capitol as nearly another 100 people attended the event warning against the dangers of Islamic extremists in America.
"We feel it's important," said Debbie Mallis, the coalition's director. "We know it's hate speech, and we need to take a stand against it."
Christopher Holton of the Center for Security Policy, who spoke at Thursday's presentation, said the government is falling short of protecting the American people. Presenters invited all 105 state lawmakers to attend, but only a little more than a dozen did so. A handful of lawmakers briefly stopped by to listen to parts of the presentation, including House Majority Assistant Leader Brent Crane, but they did not stay until the end.
The event took place during the first week of the 2016 Idaho Legislature. No legislation regarding refugee resettlement has been presented, nor have legislative leaders hinted any bills are coming in the near future.
Opposition to refugee resettlement has been spreading across pockets in Idaho over the past year as part of the national debate over the vetting of refugees fleeing war-torn Syria and particularly following deadly terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter was one of multiple state heads to ask the federal government to halt all refugee resettlement until vetting practices could be reviewed. Before that, state lawmakers were forced to gather for a special legislative session to pass federal compliance legislation after a handful of legislators warned child support laws were connected to Sharia law.
Meanwhile, a Twin Falls refugee resettlement center has come under fire after news broke that the program would receive more refugees starting in October. Critics argue the center should be shut down because of fears the refugees would be radicalized Muslims, terrorists in disguise.
"We have a problem because there is not a system in place to vet them. We already know there are refugees involved in attacks like Paris," said Shahram Hadian, who left Islam to become a fundamentalist Christian minister.
The event was primarily peaceful, with some audience members bursting into clapping. Only one attendee stoop up to yell "You lie, he lies," before walking out of the room.
Idaho has been resettling refugees since the 1970s. The effort originally focused on people fleeing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos following the end of the Vietnam War and then expanded to those escaping Soviet regimes in eastern Europe.
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