Arab-Americans Anxiously Watch Trump’s U.S. Attorney, Attorney General Picks

DETROIT, MI — U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade will likely be replaced after president-elect Donald J. Trump is sworn into office, and that is causing some anxiety among members of Metro Detroit’s large Arab-American community, who have come to regard McQuade as an ally.

It’s tradition for presidents to pick their own federal prosecutors, and Arab-Americans are worried how Trump’s fiery rhetoric in the campaign might be reflected in an area that has one of the largest concentrations of American Muslims in the country.

In 2014, McQuade asked for a congressional inquiry of leaked intelligence documents that ranked Dearborn No. 2 on the list of cities with suspected terrorists. McQuade called the report “unfortunate” and said it placed the entire community in a negative light.

At the time, McQuade said the report based on leaked documents unfairly portrayed an entire community and that she questioned its accuracy. “It’s very irresponsible to report and rank numbers because of what it does to an entire community,” McQuade said at the time. “I have seen and we all understand these watch list are not perfect.”

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Detroit News tht concerns among Arab-Americans and other minority communities aren’t about a Republican versus Democratic appointment to replace McQuade, but rather Trump’s agenda.

“My concern is a Trump appointee. The Trump administration seems to be a real departure from the traditional Republican party.This individual is bringing a white nationalist to his transition team,” Walid said, referring to Stephen K. Bannon, who is leading Trump’s transition team. “Who knows who he will select. Our concerns are from a level of extremely rigorous targeting and prosecution of the Muslim community.”

• See Also: Among American Muslims, Donald Trump’s Election Has ‘Psychological Impact’

Trump has pledged to deport immigrants, which could have a wide effect among Latinos, and to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

New appointments to Michigan’s Eastern and Western Districts aren’t automatic, but historically have taken place when a new political party is in charge at the executive level. McQuade was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama, and her counterpart in Michigan’s Western District, Patrick Miles Jr., was appointed by Obama in 2012.

Michigan’s two U.S. senators, Debbie Stabenow, of Lansing, and Gary Peters, of Bloomfield Township, both Democrats, will recommend candidates to replace McQuade and Miles.

It’s unclear how much sway they’ll hold, though.

“These are prized positions, so the Republicans want to reward one of their own with the position,” Peter Henning, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University and a friend of McQuade, told The Detroit News. “It’s important for law enforcement and to carry out the president’s priorities.”

Sessions Protest Planned

Meanwhile, several activists planned to protest Monday at the Coleman Young Municipal Center against Trump’s pick for U.S. attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

Sessions ho has argued for a Muslim ban and also broke from his Republican colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee and voted against an amendment stating that the Senate would not create policies that create policies that discriminate based on religion.

He also launched into a 30-minute spiel on the Senate floor last December arguing the federal government should be able to use whatever criteria it wants, including religion, to determine who can and cannot immigrate to the United States.

Sessions said removing a religious test in the right-to amendment, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, would make it harder to keep out terrorists.

“This amendment would mean, for instance, that the United States could not favor for entry the moderate Muslim cleric over the radical Muslim cleric,” he said.

“Many people are radicalized after they enter,” the senator added. “How do we screen for that possibility, if we cannot even ask about an applicant's views on religion? Would we forbid questions about politics? Or theology?”

In July after the terror attacks in Nice, France, Sessions called for tighter immigration controls on countries with a history of terrorism:

“[France] has the largest Muslim population of any country in Western Europe. Unfortunately, many have resisted assimilation, rejecting the French culture, choosing to separate themselves rather than integrate. As we have seen over and over again, this leads to more radicalism and violence. It has forced France to extend its state of emergency. We increasingly face the same problems in the United States… As we work to protect Americans from terrorists, we must understand how open we’ve been to immigration from countries with a history of terrorism.”

Erik Shelly of Michigan United, one of the organizers of the rally, said that together with Trump’s support of stop-and-frisk policies, told Michigan Radio that making Sessions the nation’s top law enforcement officer “really creates a moral hazard.”

“We're afraid that an Attorney General like Jeff Sessions would be lax on protecting civil rights,” Shelly said. “I think it's really critical right now that we have someone who is conscious of the role race plays in police relations.”

Among those planning to protest are members of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, some Detroit City Council members and a police commissioner board member.

Photo: Public Domain