Study: Refugees added up to $295M to southeast Michigan economy in 2016

After Yasir Ibrahim arrived in Michigan in 2008 from Iraq as a refugee fleeing war, he struggled for years to get by, working at a Dollar Store to make ends meet. 

But after putting in long hours and saving his money, Ibrahim today owns a specialty  burger restaurant in Sterling Heights with 15 employees. 

"My dream came true," said Ibrahim, 34, who runs Casper Burger & Escalope.

Ibrahim's success story is an example of how refugees in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties are contributing to the region's economy and helping grow its population, according to a new study released Tuesday.

The study by Global Detroit and the University of Michigan's School of Public Policy said, over the past decade, about 21,000 refugees have resettled in southeastern Michigan, contributing last year between $230 million and $295 million to the economy. About 90% of the refugees who settled in southeastern Michigan from 2007-16 are from Iraq, with an additional 7% from Syria. 

The study said that resettling refugees in southeastern Michigan created between 1,800 and 2,300 jobs. Refugees are also bringing more people to a region facing population challenges, the study said. Michigan is the only state in the U.S. to have fewer residents now than in 2000, and so refugees and other immigrants can help the state grow.

"These new Michiganders have been a source of strength to the Michigan economy: launching new businesses, providing much-needed labor, and achieving self-sufficiency within a very short time after their arrival,” said Steve Tobocman, a former state representative in Detroit who is Executive Director of Global Detroit and one of the study’s principal authors. "Our research verifies that being welcoming to refugees is in our own economic self-interest.”

This study is being released at a time when President Donald Trump is seeking to crack down on the refugee influx. His administration announced last month that the U.S. would take in only 45,000 refugees in the coming year, the lowest amount in decades, the study said.

Trump officials have argued that many refugees are a burden on the U.S. and also pose security threats. It has put forth a planned travel ban that targeted refugees from some Muslim-majority countries. 

The study was announced at the Chaldean Cultural Center in West Bloomfield with the support of the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce. Many of the Iraqi refugees are Chaldeans, who are Iraqi Catholics. 

The percentage of refugees in metro Detroit who are Iraqi is much higher compared with  other metro areas. A Pew study released last week said Myanmar sent the most refugees to the U.S. from 2002 to 2017, about 169,000, followed by 144,000 from Iraq, 104,000 from Somalia, and 94,000 from Bhutan.

Bashar Nazo, 59, of Troy fled Iraq in 2008 and was resettled in Salt Lake City, Utah, but he and his wife and children moved to metro Detroit, where they were able to better fit in because of the large Iraqi and Middle Eastern population. 

Today, Nazo runs a photo and video company and his wife has a flower and decoration business in metro Detroit. 

One of the goals of the southeastern Michigan study is to convince policy makers, business leaders, and elected officials that refugees and immigrants can help the state. Michigan, which is the 10th biggest state by population, has taken in the fourth highest number of refugees since 2007. Southfield, Sterling Heights, Troy, Warren, and Madison Heights took in the highest number of refugees in metro Detroit over the past decade, with Southfield and Sterling Heights each taking in 4,000 refugees.

"The study can help public policy makers, local and state governments, philanthropy, and even the private sector,” study co-author Elisabeth Gerber, professor and associate dean at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, said in a statement. “It is our hope that local communities deciding to welcome refugees can use this research to better integrate refugees, help them achieve self-sufficiency, and insure that their resettlement is an economic benefit to the local community.”

Other findings of the study include:

• Spending by refugee households who arrived between 2007-2016 contributed $164 million to $211 million in annual spending, supporting up  to 1,690 jobs.
•  A conservative estimate suggests that these refugees own 438 businesses who collectively spend $70 to $90 million a year, providing 319 to 410 local jobs.
• In southeastern Michigan, most refugees over the past decade were resettled in Oakland County (53% of the southeast Michigan total) and Macomb County (34% of the total).  Less than 2% of refugees in the region were resettled in the city of Detroit.

• Spending by refugee households who arrived between 2007-2016 is estimated to contribute $164 million to $211 million in annual spending, supporting about 1,300 to 1,690 jobs.

Zeyad Jabo, 34, of Sterling Heights arrived in Michigan three years ago after facing persecution in Iraq as a Christian and for working for a contractor tied to the U.S. military. 

"In the beginning, it was really hard," Jabo said of his new life in the U.S. But now, he works as a senior engineer in the technology division at Comerica Bank.

"For me, this is a land of dreams," Jabo said. "I can't wait to be an American citizen. ... If you work hard in America, you can succeed. I truly believe that."

Related stories:

Syrian refugees eager to build new lives in metro Detroit

Refugees in Troy: President Trump has the wrong image of Islam

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group founded by Dr. John Tanton of Michigan that wants to sharply decrease immigration, has said there are risks in resettling refugees.

"By allowing a mass migration of refugees, particularly those from places where religious or political violence is endemic, we open ourselves up to possible terrorist threats," said FAIR on their website.  "Oftentimes, we cannot perform proper screening or background checks on these refugees, because in some cases they arrive without any form of identification and hail from countries that are not cooperative with the U.S. Thus it’s often nearly impossible to distinguish legitimate refugees from terrorists."

FAIR also says refugees receive many government benefits that could otherwise be used by Americans.

Immigrant advocates, though, say that refugees go through a rigorous screening process that blocks potential terrorists. And they say refugees are contributing to the economy, not taking away from it. 

Tobocman said he hopes the study can help dispel "myths you see in the popular media" that refugees are a threat. 

"There's this myth that refugees are people who don't work hard, who don't want to speak English, don't want to integrate," he said. 

Martin Manna, head of the Chaldean Chamber of Commerce, said the study shows the "importance of immigrants and their economic contributions." 

Manna said he hopes the U.S. can take in more Iraqi refugees, noting there are still 800,000 Iraqi Christians who have been displaced from their homes. 

"The Chaldean community has been very thankful for the economic opportunities in Michigan," Manna said.

Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Follow him on Twitter @nwarikoo