Yes, it most likely could, mosques are part of the hijra (the migration), however a resettlement contractor spokeswoman quickly said, NO. She doesn’t believe refugees can be successful in this county.
Hmmm! Wonder where all the new Muslims (enough for a big new mosque and cemetery) are coming from then?
Here is the news from AP at Fox News (is Fox calling CAIR a civil rights group in its headline?):
ATLANTA – A proposal to build a mosque and Muslim cemetery has so angered some residents of Newton County outside Atlanta that their commissioners have temporarily banned all building permit approvals for religious institutions.
The moratorium prompted the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the NAACP to request a federal civil rights investigation in Newton County. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Horn confirmed receipt of this complaint Tuesday, but declined comment.
Mohammad Islam, the religious leader behind the proposal, said he doesn’t intend to take any legal action; instead, he met Tuesday with local leaders of other faiths in Newton County, seeking their support for a fresh start.
[….]
One commissioner questioned whether the project would make Newton County “a prime area for the federal government to resettle refugees from the Middle East” in an interview with The Rockdale Citizen, a local newspaper. Two public meetings were held, both crowded with angry opponents who clapped and cheered when people expressed fears about global terrorism.
[….]
But places like Newton County need not fear becoming magnets for refugees, said Amy Crownover, spokeswoman for New American Pathways. The organization is one of five refugee resettlement organizations in Georgia that are contracted with the federal government to assist refugees arriving in the United States.
“We work in partnership with communities, looking for communities where refugees can be successful,” which requires easy access to public transportation, jobs, English classes and other services. Newton County “isn’t an ideal setting,” Crownover said.
I’m wondering if she is implying the folks there are unwelcoming? But, of course, we know that hasn’t stopped the contractors in other locales.
Georgia has been a real hot bed of controversy and is one of the original pockets of resistance to the Refugee Admissions Program, click here for our Georgia archive.