Loebs said sex cases between minors aren’t uncommon and implied that this case is being exploited by the local anti-refugee movement to make a political point.

Refugee-resettlement officials called the online reports deceptive attempts to incite anti-refugee sentiments.

Only a handful of people from Syria live in Twin Falls County — 11 Syrians were receiving food stamps in the county and eight were on Medicaid in 2015, according to state statistics. No Syrians have been settled in Twin Falls through Idaho refugee programs, said Jan Reeves, director of the Idaho Office for Refugees.

“There have been periodic website postings about hundreds of Syrians coming to Idaho that have all proven to be false in the past, and this is probably just one of those attempts to try and stir up hatred and bigotry,” he said.

Loebs said the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center, which oversees refugee resettlement in the Magic Valley, did not resettle the boys involved and that the program has “absolutely nothing to do with this.”

Zeze Rwasama, director of the CSI Refugee Center, said he knows no details about the incident or the names of those involved but is deeply concerned about what the online claims and misinformation are doing to the community.