speech that year.
A year later, those open arms started to close. In November 2015, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris, Snyder released a statement saying that Michigan would not accept any Syrian refugees until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security “fully reviewed” its procedures.
Snyder has been “mostly supportive” of Global Detroit’s efforts, especially its work connecting international students to open STEM [science, technology, engineering, and math] jobs, but Tobocman was disappointed to hear that Snyder, who once welcomed Syrian refugees to Michigan—some of the most highly vetted immigrants in the country—reversed course a few months later. After Snyder released his statement, a host of other Republican governors across the country said they, too, wanted to hit the pause button on Syrian refugees.
Tobocman says the ideological dogpile by GOP governors was a hysterical response fueled by an increasingly divisive presidential campaign—one that many are still struggling to process. “Now, more than ever, is the time to take about the economic realities of immigration. Don’t get lost in the rhetoric, but recognize what made it appealing to some people: real concerns about the global economy.”
Tobocman says Global Detroit has some of the same concerns as dissatisfied voters: stagnant wages and worries over the country’s ongoing jobless recovery, for instance. Silicon Valley, he points out, owes much of its growth to immigrants, as half of the valley’s billion-dollar startups have an immigrant founder.
“We’re focused on a high-growth, high-wage economy and we think the way to do that is by embracing the opportunity and benefits immigrants bring,” he explains. “I don’t think Detroit suffers from a fixed number of jobs and competition—we suffer from depopulation and the economic challenges that result. The quality of life in Southwest Detroit has been stabilized because of immigrants, and the same could be said about Dearborn and Hamtramck.”
And for everybody worried that a President Trump will seal the borders, Tobocman believes cooler heads in the business community will prevail.
“The chambers of commerce, business leaders, establishment corporations, and Silicon Valley are very supportive of immigration, and I imagine some of Trump’s ideas will be opposed by a lot of people in the business world,” he predicts. “Job creators will provide a counter balance. Most of Trump’s ideas focus on the southern border and Syrian refugees, but there are a lot of other parts of immigration that need to be figured out.”
