Montana residents protest influx of foreign refugees, blame Muslims for rising crimes

Protesters hold an anti-Muslim rally outside a Phoenix, Arizona, mosque in this May 2015 file photo.Reuters

More than 100 people rallied in front of Missoula County Courthouse in Montana on Monday to protest the influx of foreign refugees in the U.S. state. The protesters blamed Muslims for the rising crimes in cities across the United States, WND reported.

Montana resident Karen Sherman, who originally resided in Texas, told the crowd that "Amarillo is overrun with refugees."

"Our city is failing because of the refugees. We have 22 different languages spoken in our schools. We've got 42 languages being fielded by our 9-1-1 call centres, and crime is just through the roof. We need to exercise caution, especially for the sake of our children," she said.

One of the signs carried by protesters read "Christian Refugees 2 Christian Nations, Muslim Refugees 2 Muslim Nations, That's Only Fair."

The FBI named Amarillo as the fifth most dangerous city in Texas, and Sherman blamed the Muslim refugees for this.

"The rape epidemic in this world is becoming pandemic. It's not confined to one location. Fifteen years ago in Norway, rape was unheard of. Now it's an epidemic. The perpetrators are 100 percent Muslim males," Sherman said, according to WND.

She said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's call to prevent the entry of Muslim refugees is too late.

She said the U.S., founded on Judeo-Christian principles of tolerance and respect,, should not expect people from developing cultures to share its values.

"If people don't choose to follow the law, you cannot hire enough police officers," she said.

She said expecting Muslim refugees, "who have been taught for thousands of years of violence," to come to the U.S. and assimilate to the way of life is "dangerous and foolish expectation."

Since January 2002, 5,251 foreign refugees have settled in Amarillo.

The report said President Obama has increased the number of foreign refugees to the U.S. to 85,000 including 10,000 coming from Syria.

Soft Landing Missoula is working with city and county officials to resettle refugees in Montana while the Act for America chapter is moving to prevent it.

Mary Poole, who represents Soft Landing, Missoula, told KGVO News Radio that many immigrants have resettled in Missoula in the past 30 years.

"We've successfully resettled a Hmong community, as well as Belorussians and Ukrainians, who are now members of our community and part of the fabric of Missoula. We're just working on revamping the infrastructure that has already existed here," she said.