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Hamtramck City Council Considers Censure Of Councilman For 'Anti-Immigrant' Remarks

HAMTRAMCK (WWJ) - The Hamtramck City Council has called a special meeting to decide whether to censure, or publicly disapprove, of comments made by one councilman.

The resolution notes, in part, that Councilman Ian Perrotta made disparaging remarks "about recent immigrant arrivals to Hamtramck insinuating that, as a group, they lacked basic knowledge of and adherence to community norms related to sanitation and property maintenance ..."

"There is an issue with trash in Hamtramck," Perrotta told WWJ in an interview. "I think some of it comes from the fact that some of our immigrant population comes from areas where regular trash collection and sanitation is not available, or not a priority."

Listen to the complete interview here.

The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says they support the censure:

"There shouldn't be any place in city government, especially a place such as Hamtramck, Michigan, which is the most diverse town in the state of Michigan for people having such blatant, stereotypical anti-immigrant sentiments," said Dawud Walid executive director of CAIR.

[CENSURE RESOLUTION]

"The act of public disapproval by the city of Hamtramck's officials is a welcome start -- as far as the further fate of the councilman that will have to be decided at the polls in the next election," he said.

Walid telling WWJ they plan to have support in attendance at the 7 p.m. meeting tonight.

In a post on Facebook, Perrotta said he'll host an open meeting Wednesday:

"I will be hosting an open discussion on Wednesday, September 27, 2017 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Delite Café and Deli to speak about the recent news report regarding trash in Hamtramck. Please feel free to join me to discuss the report and any other issues you would like to address."

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