DEARBORN— On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the City Council passed a resolution introduced and authored by Councilman Mike Sareini, opposing President Trump’s executive order and welcoming all law abiding persons to Dearborn— irrespective of race, creed, nationality or religion.
Sareini’s resolution resists the order Trump signed on Jan. 27, which bans citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries— Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan— from entering the U.S. It also bars Syrian refugees indefinitely.
“It was a tremendous honor to be part of this and to introduce this resolution,” he said. “I’m glad that we were able to get support for it and that Dearborn stands with the Constitution and with the courts of the United States.”
Sareini also thanked Pastor Fran Hayes from Littlefield Presbyterian Church for promoting the resolution on social media and Ford engineer and Arab American Political Action Committee member Mustapha Hammoud for helping him draft a portion of it.
“It was a pleasure working with Councilman Sareini on the resolution and I’m proud to see our community come out in a support of a more welcoming Dearborn,” Hammoud told The AANews.
Some community members and councilmen shared their heartfelt stories of immigration in support of the plan.
Councilman David Bazzi shared a story about his grandfather’s immigration to the U.S.
“[He] came here in 1911,” he said.
Bazzi said his grandfather was 13-years-old, so he had to lie about his age to get in. His mother sent him to America, so she wouldn’t lose him like she’d lost his father and brother in war.
“For me, he was Syrian, because in 1911 there was no Lebanon,” Bazzi said. “He always viewed himself as a Syrian his whole life until God took him.”
Bazzi also criticized Trump’s immigration policy.
“All of us want realistic immigration policy,” he said. “This is bad policy. That’s all it is.”
Sareini told The AANews that some people might think that the resolution is just emblematic.
“I think that ‘symbolic’ goes a long way,” he said. “Specifically, in the fact that six months prior to this, I was unable to successfully pass a welcoming resolution.”
He said the Dearborn community needs to know that their elected officials are standing for them and for the law.