Idaho

With just over 1.5 million inhabitants, Idaho ranks 39th in the United States in state population. The state has experienced significant population growth since the 1990s, also thanks to Hispanic/Latino immigration, which has made that ethnic group the second-largest in the state (10.2 percent) after whites (85.1 percent). Native Americans make up 1.5 percent of the population, followed by Asians (1.1 percent) and African Americans (0.9). Idaho is second only to Utah for the number of Mormons in its territory, and while Protestants represent the largest religious affiliation, Catholics are a strong minority, with almost 15 percent of members concentrated north of Boise. Mormons can count on extensive social networks in Idaho, so much so that, especially in the southern part of the state, the Latter-day Saints do not consider themselves a subculture, but part of the mainstream. Mormon candidates have also started to gain attention within political parties, especially in the Republican Party.

Throughout the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Idaho, together with California and Oregon, was the destination of many Basque immigrants who had already settled down in Latin American countries but were then lured to the North American west by the discovery of gold and silver in the 1850s. Yet, even when the gold rush finished, Basques continued to arrive in Idaho and the west, pushed outside their homeland by war, lack of profitable opportunities, and political persecution. The completion of the transcontinental railroad in the late 1860s made the territories of the west more accessible, and public lands were available free of charge. Basques settled down to farm and graze animals in order to provide food for the miners searching for gold. Although Basque immigrants had also initially devoted themselves to the search for gold, they soon understood that, in the long run, the business of providing food and accommodation for the miners would be more profitable and more suitable to their skills as they came from rural towns and farms. As with migratory processes concerning other ethnic groups, social networks and chain migration were crucial in the Basques, decision to settle down in the western states. The overwhelming majority of Basques who moved to Idaho did so following a relative, usually a father or an uncle. At the beginning of the 21st century, Idaho has more than 6,000 inhabitants of Basque origins, ranking the state second after California in terms of Basque population.

Idaho is sadly famous for being the home of groups exhibiting extremism and bigotry, which has resulted in the creation of a series of networks that encourage racial hate and crimes, such as the Socialist Nationalist [Page 396]Aryan Peoples Party, the Aryan Nations Church, and the Posse Comitatus. The White American Bastion, popularly known as the Order, has its headquarters in Idaho. Participants in the Aryan World Congress in 1986 selected Kootenai County, Idaho, as the temporary capital of the Pacific Northwest Aryan Nation, which would also include Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Wyoming. The idea behind the White American Bastion is to construct a network of Christian patriots who would emigrate in the Pacific Northwest to support the constitution of an Aryan nation. The members of this network aim to establish what they consider God's rule on the Earth, a goal for which they are ready to advocate and use violence. In his study on religious extremism in Idaho, James Aho has noted that patriots' recruitment tends to go through existing social relations as having a relative, a close friend, or a work colleague in the movement represents the main reasons to join. Recruiters and the recruited also establish a social bond that constitutes a prerequisite to faithfulness to patriot ideas.

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