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DETROIT – The U.S. government resettled Mazen Alsaqa in Massachusetts in February. Within a month, the Iraqi refugee moved to Michigan.
It wasn’t that Alsaqa disliked Worcester, Mass. But he never thought twice about staying. Even though the U.S. government tried to keep him away from the Detroit area and its soaring unemployment, that was the only place Alsaqa wanted to live.
Tens of thousands have fled Michigan’s troubled economy in recent years, yet Iraqi refugees continue to move there despite a U.S. government policy trying to limit refugee resettlement in the Detroit area. Family ties and cultural support from the region’s large Mideastern community appear no match for the U.S. effort, which tries to place refugees in cities where they stand a better chance of financial success.
“What the government gives you as a support is not a great deal. … If you’d like to live decently, you should have a live connection – that’s your family here in Michigan,” said Alsaqa, 34, who lives in suburban Birmingham with family.
Southeastern Michigan has one of the country’s largest Mideastern populations – about 300,000 can trace their roots back to the region – and has long been a top destination for Arab immigrants to the U.S.
Kabobs are easier to come by than Big Macs in some areas of the Detroit suburb of Dearborn that more closely resemble a Mideastern city than a Midwestern one. Arabic signs are common on storefronts, headscarves are worn by many women, and at some fast-food restaurants in the city, the meat is halal – meaning it is prepared according to Islamic law.
But as Michigan’s auto industry crumbled and thousands were laid off, the State Department decided in June 2008 to limit the number of Iraqi refugees it sent to the area to only those with a close family member such a parent or sibling.
The policy came as the U.S. government began increasing the overall number of Iraqis it granted refugee status. Between July 2008 and September, the U.S. resettled only 3,400 Iraqis in the Detroit area – about 13 percent of the total number of Iraqi refugees that came to the U.S.
But that hasn’t stopped Iraqis from coming to Michigan. At least 460 Iraqi refugees have arrived on their own to Michigan since July 2008 after first being told to resettle somewhere else, according to Lutheran Social Services of Michigan, one of the state’s primary refugee agencies.
The State Department says its policy has relieved pressure on community and social services groups in Michigan. But Al Horn, Michigan’s director of refugee services, said while the policy initially cut back on the number of Iraqis coming to the state, many eventually made their way to the Detroit area, putting a strain on some local agencies.
