Islam USA: Inside America’s Only Muslim-Majority City, Where the Call to Prayer Echoes in the Streets

By Ben Ashford. The rest of America may be agonizing over the security implications of taking in those fleeing the twin horrors of Bashar al-Assad and ISIS.

But Syrian refugees are being welcomed with open arms in Hamtramck, Michigan – America’s first and only majority Muslim city.

Once 90 percent Polish Catholic, the blue-collar enclave just outside Detroit has been transformed by successive waves of immigrants from Bangladesh, Yemen and Bosnia.

Muslims now outnumber non-Muslims, the council has a Muslim majority and the call to prayer echoes through the streets five times a day . . .

Residents, particularly senior citizens, have complained bitterly about being woken up each day by the 6am call to prayer. (Read more from “Islam USA: Inside America’s Only Muslim-Majority City, Where the Call to Prayer Echoes in the Streets” HERE)

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Cuellar: Syrians Already Entering the U.S., Plan Needed Now

By WOAI. Border Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) says as the U.S. debates the fate of Syrian refugees, the refugees are coming and will continue to arrive on our southern border, and rather than debate, the country needs to start deciding how to handle the coming flood of desperate people from the Middle East, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

“They are going to try to short circuit that wait of 18 to 24 months,” Cuellar told News Radio 1200 WOAI in an exclusive interview. “They will come in here, make their claim, and if there is nothing to hold them, they will be released.”

Two groups of Syrians, mainly families, have already done that, arriving in the U.S. in the Laredo area and then immediately presenting themselves to Border Patrol officers, surrendering, and asking for political asylum.

The standard operating procedure right now is to place them into the family detention centers in Dilley or Karnes City, but many are released on bonds or on ankle monitors after a few months in the facilities. And Cuellar points out that once they are released, the demands of governor like Gov. Abbott that they not be housed in Texas are meaningless. They have the right to settle whenever in the U.S. they want, as long as they present themselves for immigration hearings, which could be set for several years in the future.

Cuellar says that has the effect of scrapping all of the talk of a lengthy wait and ‘vetting period’ for people seeking refugee status. (Read more from “Cuellar: Syrians Already Entering the U.S., Plan Needed Now” HERE)

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