Better off in Syria than in Detroit.
Nearly 10,000 refugees arriving in the United States over the next 11 months were relieved to learn that they would not be sent to Detroit, sources report.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder suspended efforts to relocate Syrians displaced by the country’s civil war earlier this week “until a more reasonable and humane solution” could be found.
“They have already been through so much,” Snyder told the Detroit Free Press. “To be sent to another city in ruins with a corrupt and ineffectual government seems like a cruel joke.”
The city, while boasting the title “Most Dangerous City in America” for three years running, is still statistically safer than Syria. However, refugees have their heart set on “The American Dream” and will settle for nothing less.
“At first I was excited to learn about Detroit’s ‘lions’ and ‘tigers,’” said Eid Al Fayez from his tent in Turkey’s Nizip Refugee Camp, who reportedly ate the Al-Qarya al-Shama Zoo’s lions to survive. “But then I found out they were perennially underachieving sports teams.”
“If I wanted to be disappointed every year then I would have stayed in Syria and waited for the developed world to come to our rescue,” he added.
While there is hope for incoming refugees, there are still concerns for the nearly 20 Syrians who arrived in Detroit before Snyder suspended the relocation effort. According to the US Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), there is no reason to worry. PRM indicated nearly all of the registered refugees reported in interviews that their situation is “mostly better, kind of,” than living in a war zone.
“I’ll admit, when I looked down from the airplane as we were arriving to Detroit, I thought someone played a joke and flew us back to Raqqa,” recent Detroit resident Tareq Suheimat told Duffel Blog. “But then I felt kind of silly because it was just the ruins of a failed mass transit system surrounded by thousands of abandoned houses.”
Given his extensive research of Detroit from documentaries such as “Robocop” and “8 Mile,” Suheimat was pleasantly surprised with the quality of life in the Midwestern city. He went on to say he was most impressed with the municipal services that arrived promptly three hours after his government housing was set ablaze as part of the city’s Halloween “Devil’s Night” festivities.
“I can’t believe anyone actually showed up at all,” Suheimat admitted. “But then again, with superior technology like fax machines and pop cans to keep you abreast of emergencies, I can see why people think America is a great place to live.”
Via DuffelBlog