Detroit Mayor Says Travel Ban 'Just Not Who We Are As Americans'
DETROIT (WWJ) - Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is speaking out about President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
In a written statement out Monday, Duggan said closing our doors to refugees is "just not who we are as Americans," adding he's met personally with some Syrian refugees living locally and calls their stories "deeply moving."
The mayor reiterates that Detroit is a national leader in offering homes to families from war-torn nations seeking a new life in the U.S.
"The City of Detroit is proud of our status as a Welcoming City, where immigrants from all countries are embraced. When President Obama was attacked for his decision to increase acceptance of Syrian refugees, Detroit became a national leader in publicly offering a home for these families," Duggan said.
"I've had a chance to visit some of our refugees as they've moved into their new homes in Detroit. Their stories are deeply moving: fleeing with young children from the horrors of war, barely subsisting in overcrowded refugee camps in Turkey or Jordan, often for years, until the lengthy U.S. vetting process finally clears them.
"When you hear the pride and excitement in their voices for their chance to start a new life in this country, you realize what America means to so many in the world. Our country won't be made safer by telling victims of oppression that America's doors are closed to them or by telling them they're unwelcome because of their religion. That's just not who we are as Americans."
Duggan's statement comes after a weekend of protests at airports across the nation, including at Detroit Metro in Romulus.
As part of his executive action over the weekend, Trump ordered a 120-day suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, to allow more time to review the vetting process.
Trump, in a statement Sunday, defended that order, along with the detention of Muslim travelers — stressing that none of it amounts to what some have been calling a "Muslim ban."
"America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression, but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border. America has always been the land of the free and home of the brave," the president said.
"We will keep it free and keep it safe, as the media knows, but refuses to say. My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months. The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror. To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting." [Read more from CBS News here].
