Dearborn

 City Beat, Detroit, News

Lebanese man from Dearborn to be deported

(DEARBORN, MI) — A Lebanese man from Dearborn suspected in the deaths of two United Nations peacekeepers in 1980 has admitted that he entered the United States without proper documentation and agreed to return to his native Lebanon.

The Irish government suspects 71-year old Mahmoud Bazzi in the deaths of two of its soldiers assigned to United Nations peacekeeping duties in Lebanon. Bazzi is not charged with killing Derek Smallhorne and Thomas Barrett and insists he had no involvement.

Bazzi’s attorney Karim Aljuni told the immigration court in Detroit on Monday that his client wants to return to Lebanon through a route that does not pass through Europe.

The government’s lawyer in the immigration case, Frank Ledda, said Bazzi’s deportation has nothing to do with the Irish allegations. He says the agreement was “simply designed to remove him from the United States.”

Bazzi and his attorney want to travel directly to Lebanon, but Ledda said “there is no direct route that we can travel by.”

Khaalid Walls, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the Associated Press that “the government hasn’t agreed to avoid any specific territory.”

It was not clear when Bazzi would leave the United States, but deportations usually take about 30 days, according to Aljuni. Homeland Security officials were holding him at the St. Clair County Jail. He was arrested in Dearborn in July.

Bazzi entered the country in 1994 and later gave false information in immigration proceedings that led officials to grant him permanent residence status in the United States, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

The U.S. government said Bazzi was not honest about how he entered the country when he received asylum, Ajluni said. The Detroit Free Press said he apparently entered the country on someone else’s passport.

Immigration Judge David Paruch warned Bazzi that he would not be allowed to return for at least 10 years without permission from the U.S. government.

Bazzi’s wife and three daughters will remain in the United States.

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 City Beat, Detroit, Lifestyle

Report: Dearborn second on terrorist watch list

(DEARBORN, MI) — The Detroit suburb of Dearborn, with a population of 96,000 people, has more residents on the federal government’s terrorist watch list than any city in the United States other than New York, according to a report released Tuesday.

The Intercept, an online news site that investigates national security issues, reported Dearborn’s standing based on leaked intelligence documents. The Associated Press reported on the same documents last week, but did not include the Dearborn information.

The Intercept reports Dearborn’s large Muslim population likely accounts for the city’s high number of residents on the terrorist watch list. The Top 5 cities on the list, according to the leaked documents, include:

1. New York City
2. Dearborn 
3. Houston 
4. San Diego 
5. Chicago

“Given that there has not been a Dearborn resident who has ever committed an act of terrorism in the homeland, nor any significant pattern of residents being involved in international terrorism, we have serious concerns that federal law enforcement views Dearborn as a suspect community primarily based on its Arab and Muslim demographics,” said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.

“Such a disparity suggests that the Arab-American community has been disproportionality and unfairly targeted for inclusion on terrorist watch lists,” the Arab Civil Rights League said in a statement.

Local Arab American leaders are now calling for a Congressional investigation into the reports.

Read “The Intercept” article here.

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