UPDATE  Roanoke mayor apologizes for remarks

Roanoke continues to trend on social media, after Mayor David Bowers referred to internment camps for Americans of Japanese descent in a statement requesting a halt to any efforts to bring Syrian refugees into the Roanoke area.

Thursday, Bowers said that he stands by his statement and that he thinks it was "respectful and moderate."

However not everybody agrees.

"To compare this situation, as if that was a good decision, just shows how little he knows about history." That was the challenge issued by Roanoke city council person Ray Ferris at a news conference Wednesday evening.