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The remarks from Bill Clinton come as the US announced it had welcomed its 10,000th Syrian refugee on Monday. Speaking back in February, in a speech that has only recently come to light, Mr Clinton told an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative the US should employ Syrian refugees to rebuild their declining cities. Mr Clinton said refugees could work to rebuild Detriot, Michigan – as the city, famous for its automobile production industry, suffers from 11.6 per cent unemployment.

YOUTUBE; GETTY Former President Bill Clinton suggested that the U.S. use Syrian refugees to rebuild Detroit

The city also filed for bankruptcy three years ago. Mr Clinton's comments will fuel Donald Trump's recent declaration that Hillary Clinton would favour employing refugees over unemployed American minorities. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said: "Hillary Clinton would rather provide a job to a refugee from overseas than to give that job to unemployed African-American youth in cities like Detroit who have become refugees in their own country." Mr Clinton was filmed suggesting cities hand the construction and repair jobs they desperately need to refugees from overseas.

Hillary Clinton would rather provide a job to a refugee from overseas than to give that job to unemployed African-American youth in cities like Detroit who have become refugees in their own country Donald Trump

In the video, Mr Clinton, who served as president between 1992 and 2000, discusses the migrant crisis with billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya of the Chobani yogurt empire. During the talk, Mr Clinton said: “The truth is that the big loser in this over the long run is going to be Syria. "This is an enormous opportunity for Americans. "Detroit has 10,000 empty, structurally sound houses— 10,000. And lot of jobs to be had repairing those houses. "Detroit just came out of bankruptcy and the mayor’s trying to do an innovative sort of urban homesteading program there. "This just gives you an example of what could be done." During an increasingly bitter campaign, Mr Trump has said that "for the amount of money Hillary Clinton would like to spend on refugees, we could rebuild every inner city in America".

GETTY Detroit has 10,000 empty, structurally sound houses and a 11.6 per cent unemployment rate

Mr Clinton also seems to support his wife's position the US should accept more refugees from the war-ravaged nation — on top of the numbers the Obama administration has already pledged. In particular, Mr Clinton praised Turkey for having taken in two million Syrian refugees. He said: "The Turks have done a really admirable job of taking in all these refugees. "In the last two years, 24 percent of all the new businesses started in Turkey were started by Syrian refugees. "These people are incredibly gifted and very hard working."

Helpless children of the Syrian war Sat, July 23, 2016 Save The Children have visited war torn areas of Syria and documented the families and children at the centre of the war. 250,000 children remain trapped without food, medicine or electricity across Syria. Play slideshow Amer Al Shami / Save the Childre 1 of 38 Children push a cart of firewood in Eastern Ghouta.

GETTY Mr Clinton wants Detroit to fill their jobs with foreign migrants

The US has often been criticised by activists for moving too slowly to respond to the Syrian crisis, which has dragged on for more than five years. But, the National Security Advisor Susan Rice said the number of refugees coming into the country represented a “sixfold increase from the prior year”, and called it “a meaningful step that we hope to build upon”. Mrs Clinton has previously called for an expansion of accepting more Syrian refugees in a move Mr Trump disparagingly compared to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy.