Unwelcome plan for refugees shakes up Vermont city
RUTLAND, Vt. — Christopher Louras, newly unemployed, gazed out a coffee shop toward the sloping street where his Greek immigrant grandfather, and then his father, set up businesses in the heart of this small, once-bustling city.
Louras had been trounced days earlier in his bid for a sixth term as mayor, and the reason seemed obvious to him.
“I can’t attribute it to anything other than refugee resettlement,” said Louras, a 56-year-old Army veteran who championed the controversial effort to bring 100 Syrian refugees here. “The support in the community simply collapsed.”
The election, which reflected the national dialogue on immigration and refugees, exposed the depth of division in Rutland. Like President Trump’s surprising victory, the breadth of opposition to the refugee plan did not fully emerge until the ballots were counted.
Only two Syrian families — a total of nine people — have arrived in Rutland amid the tumult surrounding Trump’s bid to halt travel to the United States from several predominantly Muslim countries.
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