61 Muslim refugees bound for Michigan will be kept out

Over the next two weeks, 61 Muslim refugees were set to arrive in Michigan, many of them from Iraq and Syria.

But after President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday restricting refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, their admissions were stopped, while six Christian refugees from Myanmar and Congo still will be resettled in the state.

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The effects of Trump's order are already seen in significant ways in Michigan, where Muslim refugees who were about to start new lives here will be blocked, while Christian refugees appear to still be allowed in, according to figures provided to the Free Press by Samaritas, the leading refugee resettlement agency in Michigan.

Trump said Friday he wants to prioritize Christian refugees and religious minorities because they face persecution, a move Muslim groups say is discriminatory. A lawsuit filed Monday in Virginia by the Council on American-Islamic Relations on behalf of Muslims in Michigan and other states says the executive order violates the Constitution by favoring one religion over another.

Samaritas also disagrees with Trump's move to block some Muslim and Syrian refugees, saying in a statement Monday that the order violates American tradition of welcoming all regardless of background.

"This order may in fact create an isolationist philosophy that could diminish our nation’s long history of welcoming people fleeing for their lives," said Sam Beals, CEO of Samaritas, formerly Lutheran Social Service of Michigan. "We cannot judge a nation or a religion by the actions of extremists, for there are extremists who seek to do harm in every ideology on the planet, including Christianity."

"The refugees we have welcomed here already profess an unbroken belief in the goodness of America. We choose to follow their lead and remain optimistic that what they see in America will remain a crucial part

of the fabric of our ideals."

Trump's executive order Friday restricts the flow of refugees, but says that exceptions can be made for religious minorities facing persecution in their native countries. That could apply to groups like Christians in the Middle East, who have been facing increased attacks in countries like Iraq.

This week, 26 Muslim refugees from Iraq and Syria were set to arrive, but now, "all have been canceled," said Lynne Golodner, a spokeswoman for Samaritas. "However, we have six refugees set to arrive from Burma and Congo and all are still coming. They are Christian."

After this Friday, an additional 35 refugees — all of them Muslim — were due to arrive in southeastern Michigan over the next two weeks, but they, too, have been canceled, Golodner said. Some other refugees set to arrive in west Michigan, including a 20-year-old daughter from Myanmar of a woman in Battle Creek, were also canceled, but since she is Christian, she may later get in.

Samaritas resettles more refugees than any group in Michigan, and the fourth highest in the U.S. Its CEO, Beals, said "we cannot stand idly by while our nation ceases its role of advocate for all people worldwide seeking justice, freedom and a chance at a healthy, meaning-filled future. Fearing people who are different from us prevents us from loving as Christ loved."

Trump's order has caused worry among Michigan's diverse Arab-American and Middle Eastern communities, especially those with roots in the seven countries Trump targeted: Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Yemen.

"It's a very difficult time, causing great concern," said Abdulhakem Alsadah, a Yemeni-American community leader in Dearborn who is president of the National Association of Yemeni-Americans. "The last four days have been crazy with calls, I was almost sleeping in my office."

Alsadah said the Trump order makes an already difficult situation for Yemenis even worse. The country is currently in the middle of an intense conflict with no U.S. embassy services available or commercial airplane flights out of its main city. And so it's difficult to get visas and to travel, "making it almost impossible for Yemeni-Americans to" make trips to Yemen to visit family or bring family members to the U.S.

"The executive order by itself is wrong and unconstitutional because it targets specific people," Alsadah said.

Alsadah said that many Yemenis are helping the U.S. in fighting terrorism by serving in the military, federal law enforcement. The order alienates the community, he said.

Imam Husham Al-Husainy, a native of Iraq who leads the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, also said the executive order could harm the war against terrorism by alienating Iraqis allied with the U.S. The move has upset many Iraqis, some of whom are calling for Iraqi to now ban U.S. visitors.

Al-Husainy, who said he supported Trump for president, was disappointed that Iraq, a victim of terrorism from ISIS, is on the list instead of Saudi Arabia, a country he said supports terrorism and extremism. Iraqi-Americans support the idea of the order, "which is preventing terrorists from coming here and doing damage" to the U.S., but disagree with the inclusion of Iraq, he said.

"We should not be on the list," Al-Husainy said. "Don't victimize the victims of terrorism."

Some Chaldean (Iraqi Catholic) leaders in metro Detroit say they support the prioritizing of Christians in admitting refugees because they are facing attempted genocide in Iraq and other countries. Christians are a minority in Iraq.

"Since the 2014 invasion of ISIS, they have been victims of a genocide," said Vanessa Denha-Garmo, a Chaldean community leader in Livonia. "It is difficult for displaced Iraqi Christians to find safe havens inside Iraq or in surrounding Arab countries. Men can’t work and children can’t go to school. The entrance of Iraqi Christians into the United States slowed down drastically in recent years."

"I would hope we all agree that should be a priority" to admit more Christian refugees, she said.

Other leaders in metro Detroit criticized the order, including Catholic Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and Agustin Arbulu, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

"Every person must be judged by the content of their character, not by the country of their origin," Arbulu said. "When government treats entire groups of people based on its worst elements, it not only harms other members of the group, it hurts us all. ... Relying on stereotypes instead of facts will always foster unintended consequences, like bias, hate and prejudice. It strengthens our enemies and drives away our friends."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Follow him on Twitter @nwarikoo.