Catherine Carrera

Staff Writer, @CattCarrera

As a Syrian immigrant whose family fled Aleppo in 1980, weeks before hundreds of civilians were killed in a brutal siege, Michael Ghassali knows well the horrors facing today's refugees.

But as the mayor of Montvale, Ghassali said, his allegiance is to the laws of his adopted country – even those he may personally disagree with.

That is why Ghassali has vowed that under his administration, Montvale will not be a sanctuary city.

“I will not be signing any executive orders that will ask our employees to defy federal laws. A mayor should not be advocating the defiance of federal laws,” Ghassali announced in a Facebook post last week that has elicited both praise and condemnation.

The statement was in response to pressure from various advocacy groups that Ghassali said have approached him to declare the borough a safe haven for undocumented immigrants.

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President Donald Trump issued an executive order last month suspending travel to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries and indefinitely barring Syrian refugees from coming into the country.

The order has been blocked by an appeals court, and Trump has said he will issue a revised order. But it sparked protests across the country, and local politicians have taken a public position either supporting it or opposing it.

Trump also has called for a crackdown on illegal immigration. On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security issued a sweeping set of orders that authorize all agents to enforce the nation's immigration laws more forcefully, instructing them to identify, apprehend and quickly deport every undocumented immigrant they encounter.

Several North Jersey towns have either approved or are considering resolutions to become sanctuary cities, a term that generally means local police would limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement officers.

Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah, who is also a Syrian-born immigrant, issued an executive order in January declaring the borough a sanctuary city.

“As an immigrant from a country ruled by a dictator, it is important to me that our commander in chief upholds the U.S. Constitution as the law of the land,” Khairullah said last month.

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Ghassali recalled in an interview this week his experience entering the country at 15 years old and the hurdles his family faced.

In Syria, his father was a tailor, working hard for a middle-class life for his family of four children.

Ghassali remembers always feeling safe in Aleppo, even at night.

Nevertheless, the Islamist uprising, revolts against the secular government led mostly by the Muslim Brotherhood, had been brewing in the country since 1976.

“My father was wise enough to know what was going on. He told us, ‘At some point, this will not be a safe place to live.’ And he decided that we should leave,” Ghassali said.

In 1980, members olf Ghassali's family boarded a flight with green cards in hand and headed to New York City, where they had family from his father’s side waiting for their arrival.

They settled in Dumont. Ghassali said he became a citizen in 1987.

“I know firsthand the vetting system is intense – it’s always been that way. I don’t know how much more intense it could get,” said Ghassali, a Republican who ran for mayor as an independent.

“I wish the administration spent more time analyzing the current process before issuing such an executive order," said Ghassali. "They should spend the time to look at the current process before causing havoc among the refugees.”

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Ghassali said he has family members who are refugees or have been killed in the war in Syria.

“My whole network is either a refugee or has a family or friend who is a refugee. I feel it. It is very personal,” Ghassali said.

But, he said, “I have to remove emotions out of this if I want to do my job.”

A close friend of Ghassali's who attends the same Syriac Orthodox church in Teaneck has been in the country illegally for 15 years, he said.

Ghassali said that declaring Montvale a sanctuary city would not change the reality of his friend's situation.

“He’s been scared for 15 years," Ghassali said. "That doesn’t change when a mayor signs an executive order.”

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Ghassali said he hoped his stance was not misconstrued as being against diversity.

About one-fifth of Montvale's approximately 8,000 residents are foreign-born, according to 2015 census. Twenty-two languages are spoken at home, Ghassali said.

Ghassali is married to an Iraqi immigrant. On his block alone, he said, his neighbors hail from India, Pakistan and parts of South America.

"Montvale is not against refugees, against immigrants, against diversity," he said. "We are as diverse as they come."

Email: carrera@northjersey.com