Protests at DTW Airport,
Across Metro Detroit
Over Trump’s Executive
Order on Immigrants, Refugees
Protesters fill international terminal, march in Muslim enclaves in
Dearborn, Hamtramck to protest order.
DETROIT, MI — Protests erupted across Metro Detroit Sunday,
two days after President Donald Trump’s executive order banning
Muslims from certain countries from entering the country. The
protests echoed numerous others this weekend at the country's
international airports.
Hundreds demonstrated at Hamtramck, which is home to a
number of American Muslims, and thousands more were at
Detroit Metro Airport. Demonstrators marched in Dearborn,
where about 40 percent of the city’s nearly 96,000 residents are
Arab-American, and also gathered at Gerald R. Ford Airport in
Grand Rapids and in Traverse City, according to media reports.
Trump’s order bans the issuance of visas and other immigration
benefits to “nationals of particular concern” for 90 days, indefinitely
suspends the Syrian refugee program and bans the resettlement of
refugees from the affected countries for four months. The countries
affected by the vetting measure have Muslim majorities, and include
Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan Syria and Yemen.
The demonstrators also used the protests to decry Trump’s plans
to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
At Detroit Metro Airport, protesters marched in the snow, carrying
signs that read “No Ban, No Wall,” “Christians Supporting
Muslims,” and “Resist!” while chanting loud enough to drown out
jet engines. They congregated at McNamara Terminal, near the
area for international arrivals and departures.
Proud Americans protesting against unjust and unconstitutional executive orders before that gets stripped #NoBanNoWall #MuslimBan #dtw
The protest was put together quickly Saturday evening by Phoebe
Hopps, of Traverse City, who obtained a permit from Wayne
County Airport Authority late Saturday night.
"Rooted in the promise of America’s call for huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, we believe in immigrant and refugee
rights regardless of status or country of origin,” Hopps told the
Detroit Free Press. “We believe migration is a human right and
that no human being is illegal. We stand with our Muslim sisters
and brothers, and reject the path of xenophobia and extreme vetting.”
The protesters, who some estimates put at around 5,000, spanned
generations.
Two brothers, ages 12 and 16, whose father emigrated from Yemen
20 years ago carried homemade signs at the airport. The oldest,
Amuarn Ahmed, said Trump’s order is causing “mayhem,”
and punishes an entire group for the actions of a few, The Detroit
News reported. Added his younger brother, Haroun: “It is against
the Constitution. It doesn’t make sense.”
Protestors have blocked 3 lanes of traffic at the McNamara terminal #DTWprotest #MuslimBan
Homeland Security is ordering all protesters to leave the Detroit airport. Most aren't listening. #DTW #Muslimban#NoMuslimBan
DETROIT, MI — Protests erupted across Metro Detroit Sunday,
two days after President Donald Trump’s executive order banning
Muslims from certain countries from entering the country. The
protests echoed numerous others this weekend at the country's
international airports.
Hundreds demonstrated at Hamtramck, which is home to a
number of American Muslims, and thousands more were at
Detroit Metro Airport. Demonstrators marched in Dearborn,
where about 40 percent of the city’s nearly 96,000 residents are
Arab-American, and also gathered at Gerald R. Ford Airport in
Grand Rapids and in Traverse City, according to media reports.
Trump’s order bans the issuance of visas and other immigration
benefits to “nationals of particular concern” for 90 days, indefinitely
suspends the Syrian refugee program and bans the resettlement of
refugees from the affected countries for four months. The countries
affected by the vetting measure have Muslim majorities, and include
Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan Syria and Yemen.
The demonstrators also used the protests to decry Trump’s plans
to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
At Detroit Metro Airport, protesters marched in the snow, carrying
signs that read “No Ban, No Wall,” “Christians Supporting
Muslims,” and “Resist!” while chanting loud enough to drown out
jet engines. They congregated at McNamara Terminal, near the
area for international arrivals and departures.
Proud Americans protesting against unjust and unconstitutional executive orders before that gets stripped #NoBanNoWall #MuslimBan #dtw
The protest was put together quickly Saturday evening by Phoebe
Hopps, of Traverse City, who obtained a permit from Wayne
County Airport Authority late Saturday night.
"Rooted in the promise of America’s call for huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, we believe in immigrant and refugee
rights regardless of status or country of origin,” Hopps told the
Detroit Free Press. “We believe migration is a human right and
that no human being is illegal. We stand with our Muslim sisters
and brothers, and reject the path of xenophobia and extreme vetting.”
The protesters, who some estimates put at around 5,000, spanned
generations.
Two brothers, ages 12 and 16, whose father emigrated from Yemen
20 years ago carried homemade signs at the airport. The oldest,
Amuarn Ahmed, said Trump’s order is causing “mayhem,”
and punishes an entire group for the actions of a few, The Detroit
News reported. Added his younger brother, Haroun: “It is against
the Constitution. It doesn’t make sense.”
Protestors have blocked 3 lanes of traffic at the McNamara terminal #DTWprotest #MuslimBan
The protest at the airport broke up early Sunday evening, reportedly
at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security.
Homeland Security is ordering all protesters to leave the Detroit airport. Most aren't listening. #DTW #Muslimban#NoMuslimBan
Several Muslims assumed the prostrate position for prayer.
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Earlier Sunday at a protest in Hamtramck, the mayor of a Metro
Detroit community known for its high population of gay residents,
struck a chord of solidarity, The Detroit News reported.
“Gay or straight, black or white, Christian or Muslim, we stand
with you,” Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter, one of about a dozen
speakers, said. “Power of the people is always stronger than the
people in power.”
Abdual Al Ghazali, a Yemini-American who gained citizenship in
2003, echoed Coulter’s words.
"This country, who built it? Immigrants and refugees. We love
this country and we must stand together, doesn't matter (if you are)
Muslim, Christian, Jewish, black, white. We must stand together
for a better life," Al Ghazali said. "My kids have grown up here;
this is all they know."
More on Patch
- Trump Defends Order On Immigrants, Refugees, Says It Is ‘Not a Muslim Ban’
- Immigration Turmoil Full Coverage: Orders, Detainees, Confusion and Protests
- Immigrant Turmoil Prompts Nationwide Protests: ‘A Moral Obligation’
- Senate Democrats Considering Legislation To Overturn Trump Order On Immigrants, Refugees: Schumer
- University of Michigan Boldly Defies Trump’s ‘Vetting Measures’
In Dearborn, Imam Mohammad Elahi, the leader of the Islamic
House of Wisdom mosque in Dearborn Heights, said countries
that are known for financing terrorism were not on the list, he
said, referencing Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which
have been linked to the 9/11 World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks.
“It is immoral and unbelievable that the president made this
decision, targeting one of the fundamental parts of this nation's
Constitution — religious liberty,” Elahi said.
Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab-American residents
of any U.S. city. About 40 percent of the city’s nearly 96,000
residents are Arab-American, and the majority of them are
practicing Muslims.
Unrelated to the protests, a West Bloomfield couple who had
made a routine trip to Canada Friday were prohibited at the
border from re-entering the United States. And detained for
several hours before they were finally allowed to cross the border
at the Port Huron-Sarnia crossing. Immigration attorney
Farah Al-khersan is a U.S. citizen, and her husband, a permanent
resident legally in the United States.
Al-khersan told the Detroit Free Press the the border agents who
detained them were polite, but said the president’s order was not
clear. “This is above our pay grade,” she said one of them told
her. “It’s all so new.”
Here are more images from the protests from Twitter:
#DTW protest still not over. horns blazing and signs appearing while we're all in traffic #NoBanNoWall
- Trump Defends Order On Immigrants, Refugees, Says It Is ‘Not a Muslim Ban’
- Immigration Turmoil Full Coverage: Orders, Detainees, Confusion and Protests
- Immigrant Turmoil Prompts Nationwide Protests: ‘A Moral Obligation’
- Senate Democrats Considering Legislation To Overturn Trump Order On Immigrants, Refugees: Schumer
- University of Michigan Boldly Defies Trump’s ‘Vetting Measures’
In Dearborn, Imam Mohammad Elahi, the leader of the Islamic
House of Wisdom mosque in Dearborn Heights, said countries
that are known for financing terrorism were not on the list, he
said, referencing Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, which
have been linked to the 9/11 World Trade Center and Pentagon
attacks.
“It is immoral and unbelievable that the president made this
decision, targeting one of the fundamental parts of this nation's
Constitution — religious liberty,” Elahi said.
Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab-American residents
Dearborn has the highest concentration of Arab-American residents
of any U.S. city. About 40 percent of the city’s nearly 96,000
residents are Arab-American, and the majority of them are
practicing Muslims.
Unrelated to the protests, a West Bloomfield couple who had
made a routine trip to Canada Friday were prohibited at the
border from re-entering the United States. And detained for
several hours before they were finally allowed to cross the border
at the Port Huron-Sarnia crossing. Immigration attorney
Farah Al-khersan is a U.S. citizen, and her husband, a permanent
resident legally in the United States.
Al-khersan told the Detroit Free Press the the border agents who
detained them were polite, but said the president’s order was not
clear. “This is above our pay grade,” she said one of them told
her. “It’s all so new.”
Here are more images from the protests from Twitter:
#DTW protest still not over. horns blazing and signs appearing while we're all in traffic #NoBanNoWall
Photo by Hussein M. Dabajeh used with permission
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