During the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the U.S. military evacuated over 70,000 Afghan refugees to American military bases abroad where they underwent criminal background checks and medical screenings before entering the United States. In September 2021, Bloomington was designated as an official refugee resettlement site for Afghan refugees. As of this writing, 32 Afghan refugees have settled in Bloomington and 700 Afghans are expected to resettle in cities across Indiana.
In the span of a few months, dozens of Afghan refugees fleeing persecution from the Taliban in their war-torn homeland now find themselves in a mid-sized college town in southern Indiana. A notably different environment. Given the nontraditional characteristics of Bloomington as a host community and the unique circumstances surrounding the displacement of Afghan refugees, I wanted to understand how Monroe County residents felt about resettlement. I selected Monroe County as a sampling frame because many county residents travel to Bloomington to work and to access services, therefore they would be affected by resettlement as well. I pursued the following research questions, “What types of people will support Afghan refugee resettlement in Monroe County?” and “What arguments for and against resettlement will supporters and opponents find persuasive?”
To answer these questions, I created a survey that asked respondents about their demographic information and to rate ten arguments for and against resettlement from “a very good argument” to “not a good argument at all”. After analyzing the results of my survey, I found that Democrats, non-religiously affiliated residents, and Catholics were associated with having more favorable views toward Afghan refugee resettlement than Republicans and Protestants. The probability of a Democrat supporting resettlement was 93%. However, the probability of a Republican supporting resettlement was just 21%, a negative difference of 50% compared to other political affiliations. Additionally, the probability of a Protestant supporting resettlement was 39%, a negative difference of 35% compared to other religious affiliations. Conversely, the probability of a Catholic supporting resettlement was 86%, compared to other religious affiliations. The probability of a non-religiously affiliated individual supporting resettlement was 85%, compared to religious residents. For each finding, all other independent variables were held at their constant mean values.
News consumption was also an important factor in influencing attitudes toward resettlement. Those who obtained their news from conservative cable, social media, or did not pay attention to the news at all were associated with more negative attitudes toward resettlement than viewers of left-leaning cable news and high-quality news. The probability of a conservative cable news viewer supporting resettlement was only 6%, a negative difference of 63% compared to consumers of other news. Furthermore, the probability of a social media news consumer supporting resettlement was 29%, compared to other news consumers. For those residents who did not trust the news nor pay attention to the news, the probability of support for resettlement was only 20%. For each finding, all other independent variables were held at their constant mean values.
Among the results for the argument questions, the argument in favor of resettlement that resonated the most with both resettlement supporters and opponents was the empathy argument “I would want the same for myself and my family if we were in similar circumstances.” Moreover, the “military allies” affirmative argument “Many Afghan refugees helped the U.S. military fight the Taliban” also received broad support from resettlement supporters and opponents.
Supporters of resettlement overwhelmingly rejected opposing arguments to resettlement. Whereas opponents of resettlement viewed realistic threat arguments such as economic competition and resource burden on public schools as more persuasive than racial or cultural threat arguments.
Lastly, survey respondents left general comments at the end of the survey. In the comments, opponents emphasized their concerns that the vetting process was illegitimate even though there is no evidence supporting that claim. Interestingly, all residents highlighted concerns about the availability of affordable housing for Afghan refugees.
Although this study is not generalizable to Monroe County, it suggests that much opposition to Afghan refugee resettlement is linked to misinformation and misunderstanding about Afghan refugees and the resettlement process. This is supported by the fact that consumers of social media news and those who do not pay attention to the news are associated with having negative attitudes toward resettlement. Considering this finding, relevant policymakers should increase “myth-busting” education and share information on how Afghan refugees will integrate into the community to ease the practical concerns of residents.
The findings suggest that effective messages in influencing public attitudes in favor of resettlement are those that appeal to emotion and emphasize shared values such as common humanity, family, and the military contributions of Afghans. Local government and NGOs should also provide opportunities for meaningful, recurring intergroup contact, which would lead to the formation of bonds that would benefit Monroe County residents and Afghan refugees.
Ian Nowlin is a senior at the O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
Leave a Reply