Activist groups are protesting Donald Trump's pick for Attorney General in Detroit on Monday.
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has a long history of racist comments (which he denies) and anti-immigrant and refugee policies.
He’s also been critical about the FBI’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton, and spoke up for Trump after his "ban all Muslims" proposal.
In July, Sessions released a statement following the terrorist attacks in France, which included the following:
"[France] It has the largest Muslim population of any country in Western Europe. Unfortunately, many have resisted assimilation, rejecting the French culture, choosing to separate themselves rather than integrate. As we have seen over and over again, this leads to more radicalism and violence. It has forced France to extend its state of emergency. We increasingly face the same problems in the United States...As we work to protect Americans from terrorists, we must understand how open we’ve been to immigration from countries with a history of terrorism."
Add in Trump's support of stop-and-frisk, and concerns about voter suppression, and Erik Shelly of the group Michigan United says Sessions is the wrong guy to be the nation’s top law enforcement official.
"Putting Jeff Sessions in charge of that really creates a moral hazard,” Shelly says. “We're afraid that an Attorney General like Jeff Sessions would be lax on protecting civil rights. I think it's really critical right now that we have someone who is conscious of the role race plays in police relations.”
Shelly says the ACLU, some Detroit city council members, and a police commissioner board member will be protesting, too, at noon on Monday at the Coleman Young Municipal Center.
