Michigan's BRIDGES To Somewhere--We Just Don't Quite Know Where

Once again our local BRIDGES regime is contributing to the weakening of security.

According to Detroit News Islamic Affairs Correspondent Gregg Krupa,

Arab-American and Muslim leaders complained to federal law enforcement officials Thursday that members of their community are being detained without cause amid a crackdown on immigration violations that began late last month.During the monthly meeting of Building Respect in Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity (BRIDGES), which was formed by community leaders and law enforcement in 2003 to build cooperation and air grievances, the leaders said people who normally remain free on bond, or because of court-issued stays, have been detained in county jails. Others were arrested with no apparent cause, they said. ("Arab leaders say people wrongfully held").

It's now being reported that, thanks to the influence of Imad Hamad and other BRIDGES enforcers, immigration officials have actually lowered the number of illegal aliens being deported from the Arab community--and ICE officials are proud of it:

Officials of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a smaller percentage of men of Arab descent and Muslims are being deported than in past years.

"Members of the Arab community represent a very small percentage of our detained population, currently only 5 percent," said Khaalid Walls, a public affairs officer for ICE in Detroit. "In 2007, only 6 percent of our removals were from the Arab community and now in 2008 that percentage is 2 percent."

There. Who says affirmative action doesn't work?

Not that BRIDGES leaders are satisfied, as they're continuing to complain that too many illegal aliens are being detained, as they say, for no reason. Which sort of bypasses the glaring point that illegal immigrants being detained for being here illegally is, ipso facto, a reason for detaining someone.

I don't know how Krupa's article ever passed anyone's smell test. This pathetic example of government abuse was as good as it got:

"My stepdad landed from Lebanon today and they took him from the airport to a hospital room, and they are holding him and not letting us see him," said Mohamed Elkadri of Canton. His stepfather, Mahmoud Hammoud of Dearborn was held Thursday at Oakwood Annapolis Hospital in Wayne. "He needs his medication."

I'll admit Oakwood doesn't have the best reputation. But I hardly see how being transported directly from the airport to the hospital is proof of government neglect of a detainee's health.

Naturally, and of no surprise, Krupa's article contains not a single word why Elkadri's stepfather might have been detained at the airport after arriving from Lebanon. (No visa, maybe? Unlawful documents? Or just lurking ICE officials who spotted him and said, "Hey, Roy, look at that sick guy coming off Air Arabia Flight 910 from Beirut. He look Arab to you? Let's get him!")

No matter. He's here now, so the ICE quota system gives him a 98% chance of being able to remain here as long as he wants.

Corrupt ICE Official Linked with Hezbollah Money-Man Talil Chahine

According to news reports, (“Feds: Top U.S. Official Aided La Shish Scam”), the US Attorney’s office in Detroit has just unsealed an indictment against five defendants charging them with bribery, extortion, and conspiracy, including one high-ranking official with the Detroit office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (“ICE”), Roy M. Bailey, of Romulus.

According to the statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office, the

indictment charges BAILEY with misusing his position as the Assistant District Director with INS and, thereafter, as the Field Office Director at DHS-ICE by accepting large sums of currency and other property in return for granting immigration benefits, including the release of several individuals who were being kept in the custody of INS and DHS-ICE.

Also charged in the Superseding indictment was Dearborn’s notorious Talal Chahine, owner of the La Shish restaurant chain, deadbeat dad, fugitive, and Hezbollah money launderer.

The press release says:

CHAHINE and BAILEY were charged with conspiring to use BAILEY’s position at INS and at DHS-ICE to extort money from former employees of the La Shish restaurant business. In May of 2006, CHAHINE was charged in a separate investigation with criminal tax evasion. Since the time those charges were made public, CHAHINE has failed to return to the United States and is believed to be living as a fugitive in the country of Lebanon.

Debbie Schlussel has a few things to say about the timing of this indictment here.

And according to the Detroit News, ("Detroit immigration official charged with bribery"), the indictment also names another Dearborn restaurant owner, Samir Leon, of Leon's Family Dining, (described in the indictment as “Samir L.”), for also allegedly paying bribes to Bailey. For for reasons we don’t know he is not being charged in this indictment. Bailey managed to shovel down $5,000 worth of free meals at Leon’s, valued at an estimated 1,000 gyros.

The press release also says:

The Superseding Indictment also charged BAILEY and CHAHINE, along with ARZOUNI and BAZZI, with conspiring to defraud the United States by obtaining immigration benefits, including permanent resident status, through the use of false marriages arranged with other La Shish employees who were U.S. citizens.

According to the Detroit News, the grand jury indictment outlines how “the broader scam involved a fraud whereby LaShish Restaurants employees were able to stay in the country through fraudulent marriages to other LaShish employees.”

We commented on what was most likely one of those extortionate marriages a few weeks ago, in the sad story of Chanine’s sister-in-law, Dr. Rula Nadim Al-Aouar. ("LaShish: More Than Just a Restaurant, It's a Hezbollah Soap Opera").

In that situation, the immigrant Al-Aouar didn’t stay in the phony marriage, admitting it to immigration officials not long after, who promptly ordered her to leave the country by November 1993. But she feared being persecuted by Hezbollah (a/k/a, "the Lebanese resistance movement") if she returned to Lebanon, and requested asylum.


The indictment says Chahine was even extorting money from his own former employees at La Shish. What a guy.

Money laundering, fraud, bribery of high officials, fear of Hezbollah, theft, extortion, criminal tax evasion, and the Henry Ford Rouge Factory Tour!

We've got it all right here in Dearborn.