Refugee resettlement in the United States has followed other immigrant settlement patterns in the country, with more refugees in recent decades moving to newer locations, including many smaller cities. There are many success stories in such placements, yet many challenges and questions still remain regarding the integration and acculturation of newcomers. Complicating this context has been the increasingly charged and often xenophobic rhetoric regarding refugees, both globally and as a result of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. This article looks at the intersection of the local particularities of refugee integration in new locations with the national discourse and politics of resettlement in contemporary America. It does so by focusing on the case of Rutland, VT, a small city proposed as a home for Syrian refugees. Like many other cities facing various forms of decline, refugee resettlement was seen by some local officials as an important component of urban renewal. Such plans have become enmeshed within broader anxieties regarding security, feasibility, and integration. This article suggests that understanding the situation in Rutland and the many other small resettlement sites like it across the United States requires moving beyond such rhetoric and fearmongering and instead to look at the actual contexts of the cities in question. © 2018 American Psychological Association.

Small cities Integration Refugees Immigration Xenophobia

international migration United Kingdom England immigrant Vermont refugee urban renewal relocation Rutland Syrian Arab Republic United States election