Amarillo has been increasingly in the spotlight about its abundance of refugees. In early April The Observer reported on how Amarillo has become the happy ending to thousands of refugees fleeing terror and persecution around the world. Amarillo has the most refugees per capita of any Texas city, but only ranks 41st in the nation. “People have come from Cuba, Vietnam, Somalia and Burma to start new homes in a place they never knew existed,” the Observer noted.
But the city has also become ground zero for the immigrant backlash that has become a focus of this year’s political debate. Amarillo mayor Paul Harpolerecently drew criticism for saying, “There’s just too many [refugees] . . . It’s harming our students, it’s harming our people at the hospitals.”
The mayor also caused a stir last year when he claimed that “small ghettos” were being built in Amarillo for refugees. Harpole later said he was misquoted.