FWIW, I think this is one of the most terrible ideas I've ever heard. What to do with an economically depressed city? Throw a whole bunch of people with no cultural knowledge, no language skills, a high degree of trauma, and, most importantly, no capital at it! I agree with the general premise that immigrants are a large net benefit to the economy, and I support Snyder's effort to encourage more immigration to Detroit. But, absorbing a humanitarian disaster isn't the same as encouraging immigration.

I'm stunned that these otherwise educated (one assumes) professors find this to be a valuable idea. Sure, Det has other immigrants and descendants of immigrants from the middle east, but most of those are Christians and Shi'ites , which ignores the fact that a lot of the Syrian refugees are just the people who persecuted the current Detroiters out of town in the first place. Kinda racist, no? Anyway, in addition to the political problems you mention, I think this is a horrible idea written by people who don't have a clue as to what they're talking about. This piece might as well be sarcasm or satire, but I can't really tell.