As Obama invites local Syrian refugee, Peters hosts Arab-American guest at SOTU

posted on: Jan 13, 2016

By Aftab Borka

Daily Tribune News
In this Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, file photo, Syrian refugee Refaai Hamo addresses the media during a news conference, in Romulus, Mich. Hamo, a Syrian refugee who arrived in the United States this past December, has been invited to sit in first lady Michelle Obama’s visitor box to watch the State of the Union address Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)
With President Barack Obama’s last State of the Union address on Tuesday night, people across the country may or not like some of the things he has done.

One of the hotly-debated topics in recent months that the president has been quite vocal about is immigration and his support for refugees coming to America.

As part of his support for the immigrants, the president and the first lady invited a local Syrian refugee to Washington to the State of the Union address event along with several other individuals from across the U.S.

Refaai Hamo, 54, was recently resettled in Oakland County with his family after living Turkey for two years since they fled their Syrian hometown due to a civil war.

“Growing up in Syria, Refaai Hamo lived what seemed to be the kind of life associated with the American Dream – the son of a farmer and housewife, he worked construction at night to pay his way through college on his way to a PhD, married his college sweetheart and built a family together,” the White House said.

And the White House is not alone.

U.S. Senator from Michigan Gary Peters, on his part, had Hassan Jaber, the Executive Director of ACCESS – Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services – as his guest to the SOTU address.

Peters said he wanted to make a statement in the current political climate.

“There have been rhetorical attacks on the Muslim American community and I want to make a statement that we have to all remember that America is great because we have welcomed folks from all over the world who have come to our country to pursue the American Dream,” said Peters.

Jaber said he was honored to receive the invitation to attend “this historic State of the Union address.”

“As a community, and as citizens of this great nation, we stand firm that we are a strong union because of our unique diversity,” said Hassan Jaber

When asked about Obama’s overall performance in the last seven year, Peters said one thing in particular that the president should be really be praised for is the auto industry’s recovery that saved local jobs.

“The president deserves a great deal of credit for standing up for the American auto industry,” said Peters. “There were a lot of people not only in Michigan but all around the country that thought that the auto industry should go down.”

Peters said since the bailout in 2009, the American auto industry’s performance has been very good leading up to the sale of over 17 million vehicles last year.

Peters said there are experts forecasting a sale of 18 million vehicles this year.

Source: www.dailytribune.com