Official in No. 1 County in No. 1 State for Syrian Refugees to Sue

OAKLAND COUNTY, MI — Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said Tuesday that he plans to sue the federal government to stop the resettlement of additional Syrian refugees in his county but declined specifics about who might be sued or when a lawsuit might be filed.

Patterson went on record with his opposition to Syrian resettlement last November after the ISIS-inspired Paris bombings, calling refugees from that part of the world an “imminent danger.”

At the time, Patterson said the discovery of an emergency Syrian passport found at the scene of one of the attacks in Paris that matched one used by a refugee is “indisputable evidence … that the ranks of the refugees have been and will continue to be infiltrated by those who would harm or kill us.”

In an interview with WJR Radio’s Frank Beckmann Tuesday, Patterson said he has brought the county’s legal team together to file an injunction to stop additional resettlement of Syrian refugees in Oakland County “until the rules are adhered to.”

In an email to The Detroit News, Patterson spokesman Bill Mullan said details of a lawsuit will come later.

“We’re not going to speculate when, where or against whom we will file a lawsuit because we are still performing our due diligence on this matter,” Mullan said.

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Oakland County has notified the Office of Refugee Resettlement that “if they do not cooperate with Oakland County on refugee resettlement, litigation is an option,” Mullan added.

Michigan takes in more Syrian refugees than any other U.S. state, and Oakland County leads the state in resettlement efforts, according to the State Department. From May 2011 to Tuesday, more than 13,785 Syrian refugees have resettled in the United States.

The most popular destination for Syrian refugees in Oakland County is Troy, the new home of a Syrian civil engineer profiled by the Humans of New York Facebook blog. His haunting story of loss pierced the heart of America, as well as that of President Obama, who took a special interest in the case of Rafaai Hamo.

When Hamo arrived in southeast Michigan in December, he said he was grateful for the chance to start a new chapter of his life in Oakland County and wanted to be regarded as a citizen of the United States, not as a refugee.

The No. 1 resettlement area in Michigan, Troy has become home to 486 Syrian refugees since 2011, according to the state department. Dearborn is second with 313, followed by Clinton Township with 278. Sizable Arabic and Syrian communities make Metro Detroit a popular destination for refugees, The Detroit News said.

Patrick McClean, a board member for the nonprofit Syrian American Rescue Network, which helps refugees adjust after resettlement in Michigan, called Patterson’s comments “disappointing” but not surprising, given Patterson's previous stance against the Syrian Refugee Village development underway in Pontiac.

“I am dismayed by Pontiac's agreement to develop a Syrian Refugee Village within its borders,” Patterson wrote in a sharply worded letter to Pontiac Mayor Dierdre Waterman last fall.

“Pontiac is the county seat for Oakland County and thus a focal point. Any program such as the acceptance of refugees from Syria under current conditions constitutes an immediate threat of imminent danger,” Patterson wrote. “I am not overreacting to the tragedy that befell Paris. I am pointing out that lax immigration policies contributed to this terror.”

Patterson, a Republican, is up for reelection in the Nov. 8 general election, where he faces opposition from Democratic challenger Vicki Barnett.

Photo by Tomoaki INABA via Flickr Commons