The issue of resettling refugees has been a flashpoint in Rutland. Five years ago, then-Alderman David Allaire fiercely opposed the settlement of 100 Syrian refugees in the city, declaring that the program should be “slowed down, if not stopped.” His opposition to resettling refugees was a central issue in his campaign against Mayor Chris Louras. Six weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated, Allaire soundly defeated Louras in March 2017 in a vote that was widely viewed as a referendum on refugee resettlement. The refugee controversy and Louras' defeat made national news.

Last week, something remarkable happened at a meeting of the Rutland Board of Aldermen. Now-Mayor David Allaire stood up to speak to the issue of a plan to resettle Afghan refugees in Rutland. Allaire declared, “I want to make clear to everyone that I am supportive of this...” Gov. Phil Scott has also expressed support for bringing refugees to Vermont.

Rutland Alderman Devon Neary noted the results of a recent census. “We lost 688 folks, so honestly, this couldn’t come at a better time,” he told Amila Merdzanovic, director of Vermont’s chapter of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. He encouraged Merdzanovic to look at Rutland as a “big partner, not just as a little partner.”

“For the Love of Rutland” is a new film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, who grew up in Rutland and is now an associate professor in Film and Digital Media and director of Graduate Studies in the Social Documentation MFA program at University of California at Santa Cruz. The film follows a Rutland woman who is struggling with overcoming poverty and addiction. The film also follows former Mayor Chris Louras during the bitter debate over refugees in 2016, and his electoral defeat.