Last week, a group of eight investors in Michigan announced what may be a first-of-its-kind project to resettle Syrian refugees.

They had purchased 120 parcels of land in Pontiac, about 30 miles north of Detroit, with an aim to one day house an estimated 200 Syrian refugees at the site. The investors, themselves Syrian Americans, were bolstered by President Barack Obama’s call in September for the U.S. to resettle upward of 10,000 refugees from the war-torn country, and by their own Republican governor Rick Snyder’s expressed desire to draw refugees to Michigan.

“It helps the local Pontiac community and the Syrian refugees who have been homeless and suffering for the past five years,” Malaz Alatassi told the Oakland Press, which first unveiled details of the project last week. “This is to give them comfort.”

But less than week later, after the tragedy of the Paris terror attacks, the investors face a dramatically different political climate that imperils the future of their project: Snyder, at least 24 other governors, and a number of federal lawmakers want to suspend accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S.

Snyder’s office didn’t respond to requests for comment Monday about the project, but his office earlier told the Guardian that his state would temporarily stop accepting Syrian refugees, pending a review of federal clearance procedures; there is no set time frame to complete the review.

“It’s a sad day because the governor knows more than anyone that the vetting process for refugees to come to the United States is very, very thorough,” said Ismael Basha, one of the backers of the project.

“No one – me, nor the refugees, nor anyone – [is] asking the U.S. government to have an open-door policy where they don’t do their job,” Basha said. “Absolutely not.”

Basha migrated to the U.S. in the 1980s and is well aware of the lengthy process refugees endure to resettle.

“These refugees go through about at least a year to two years of interviews ... where family members are separated in different rooms, and they get asked the same questions,” he said. “And if the answer is slightly different from family member to family member, the family will disqualify.”

"There’s a lot of vacant property someplace else"

Snyder and other elected officials say their policy change reflects an effort to protect their state’s residents. But Basha, referencing Isis, said Syrian refugees “are the ones paying the price for these thugs.”

“You want to scrutinize the process further, go ahead,” he said. “But to punish the victims is very unfair.”

As a Muslim and Syrian American, Basha said the backlash to his community in response to terrorist attacks is alarming enough. On Monday, for example, he said his son called home from school, upset that people were saying “horrible things about Islam”. His son is in fifth grade.

“He was in near tears, asking... what to do or what to say,” Basha said.

Those situations are only compounded by Snyder’s decision to temporarily reject Syrian refugees, Basha said – “the very same ones who are running from Isis.”

That’s why Basha and his colleagues sought to purchase land in Pontiac and establish the haven for migrants from the country, whose four-year civil war has claimed more than 200,000 lives.

The footprint for the project is situated along 10 blocks in the south-west side of Pontiac, a city that been forced to reckon with serious financial woes in recent years. The city was operated by a state-appointed receiver who maintained control over day-to-day operations, as it struggled with a fleeing tax base and violent crime.

In recent years, however, crime has fallen off and Pontiac’s downtown has seen an uptick in new businesses opening. On the heels of those recent successes, the Rust Belt city of nearly 60,000 could benefit immensely from the resettlement of hundreds of Syrians, Basha and officials said.

“I think that contributing new and different cultures to the mix in Pontiac can be a positive thing,” said Oakland County treasurer Andy Meisner. “People coming and buying homes, fixing them up, sending their kids to local stores, spending at local stores: those are things that drive a local economy.”

Meisner disagreed with Snyder’s decision to suspend relocation efforts and said it could have an adverse effect on the project. The governor had held out his state as a haven for resettling migrants, particularly those from Syria.

“I think the governor missed that mark with this correction course,” Meisner said. “It’s unfortunate. It’s one thing to say you’re the most pro-immigration governor in the country, but then to close things down without any particular public threat is made known [is] just moving in the wrong direction.”

Basha said the group currently has the resources to pour an initial $4 million investment into the project. That would cover the construction of five to 10 homes, he said, along with the renovation of the school. If construction estimates pan out, the 1,300-square-foot homes would cost about $75,000, he said. An estimated 150 to 200 refugees could eventually resettle in the area.

Though the project is still in its infancy, Basha and his group have so far won the support of some state and local officials. But the anti-migrant sentiment sweeping the nation trickled down to the local level Monday, following the call by several state governors to establish refugee policies that would discriminate against all Muslims fleeing Syria.

“Oh hell to the no,” said Pontiac councilman Randy Carter, when asked by a local TV reporter if he’d welcome refugees to the city. “I’d rather them go someplace else. There’s a lot of vacant property someplace else.”

Basha said he’d like to break ground on the first homes next spring. But that may hinge on whether Michigan reverses course and welcomes Syrian refugees again.

“My excitement, my commitment to the project is as good as ever,” Basha said. “But if no one arrives, then we can’t do the project.”

Originally published by The Guardian