Man who claimed mom died in Iraq after Trump's ban lied, Imam confirms

[alp227]

Source: WJBK Fox 2 Detroit

The leader of a mosque in Dearborn has confirmed to FOX 2 that a man who claimed his mother died in Iraq after being barred from returning to the United States under a ban instituted by President Trump this weekend, lied to FOX 2 about when her death occurred.

Imam Husham Al-Hussainy, leader of the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in Dearborn, says Mike Hager's mom did not pass away this weekend after being barred from traveling to the United States. The Imam confirms that Hager's mother died before the ban was put in place.

After the story aired on FOX 2 and was posted on FOX2Detroit.com, we received many questions about the validity of Hager's claims that his mother died waiting to be approved to come home. FOX 2 has confirmed that his mother died five days earlier.

According to Al-Hussainy, Hager's mother had kidney disease and was receiving treatment in Michigan - where she lived - before traveling to Iraq to visit family. The Imam said she passed away on January 22, 2017, five days before President Trump instituted the travel ban.

Read more: http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/233053942-story

[Blue_Tires]

1. Christ, what an asshole

The Trump Junta will use this to discredit the whole resistance, Greenwald style...

[Botany]

2. I trust Abe

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. That's not being helpful.

[BlueStater]

6. Yep.

There are already about a billion real reasons why Trump is a terrible person. We don't need to make reasons up.

[BlueStater]

4. Terrific. Well, I guess I take back this post then.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1685952

[jonno99]

5. I don't understand why someone would do this. He'd be a fool not to think he'd get caught in the lie

about something so public.

[7962]

15. I ask myself that all the time. Like using faked pictures in ads & stuff like that

These days, theres always SOMEONE just waiting to pounce on anyone who tries to pull a stunt.

[Jose Garcia]

17. Perhaps he is simply a fool

[LisaM]

7. I was saving that for further research.

Guess I don't need to waste my time now.

[Ms. Toad]

8. My spidey sense went up when I saw the source . . .

but instead of trusting my instincts and verifying, I repeated it. I wanted to believe that even Fox might be recognizing reality.

Dang. I don't recall ever being caught repeating before I verified - I'll take that chastisement as a reminder to slow down and verify.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. The right & alt-right & white supremacists will run with it & this will be all they know. . . nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Basically, Fox News posted fake news, again, even if it was anti-Trump. Did they knew all along?

Perhaps they knew or suspected but posted it anyway on the theory that if true, they would seem to be "fair and balanced" (once in a blue moon) and if it was false then the right wing could use it.

Either way, Fox News is Faux Noise.

[keopeli]

11. The real problem here is that FOX didn't verify the story. They knew it would be inflammatory and

could have verified it before running the story.

Are we right to be skeptical of the news? Absolutely!

Should we be embarrassed for repeating it? No, FOX should be embarrassed.

Honestly, the man is from Iraq and he's probably terrified of Trump. He was probably worried his mom would have trouble returning (rightly so). In mourning and with a camera shoved in his face, he exaggerated and blamed Trump. These are normal human reactions and idiosyncrasies.

What is NOT normal (or should not be, anyway) is for a news station (local FOX) to run with the inflammatory story without asking someone else in the family or the Imam first. It's a simple check that takes 10 minutes, but they got a lot of eyeballs and made a lot of money AND hurt the anti-Trump cause, so why should they pursue the truth?

[nycbos]

12. For christ sake.

Trump has has done and will do enough terrible ****. There is no need to make it up.

[Saviolo]

13. This will be used as justification

To ignore the legitimate stories of thousands of people with legitimate grievances. There will be no discussion possible while white nationalists and white supremacists can say to any example you give, "Well, THAT one was revealed to be fake, how do we know they aren't ALL fake?"

Spurious as that insinuation is, it will still stifle any discussion or dissent. Stupid move to make up a story like that.

[left-of-center2012]

14. Fox News reports ...

Why are we posting Fox News on D.U.?

[alp227]

16. this is not Fox News national

It's the Fox station in Detroit.

[Jose Garcia]

18. Here is the AP's article on this:

Dearborn — A woman whose son told television stations that she died because President Donald Trump’s travel ban prevented her from returning to the U.S. for medical care actually died several days before the order was signed, the leader of a mosque said.

Imam Husham Al-Hussainy spoke to the Associated Press on Wednesday about comments Mike Hager made to TV stations in Boston and Detroit. Hager said he tried to bring his ill mother back from Iraq on Friday, but that she was not allowed to enter the country because of Trump’s order temporarily barring citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Al-Hussainy said the woman actually died on Jan. 21 or 22 and that prayers were said for her at the Karbalaa Islamic Educational Center in Dearborn. Al-Hussainy said he learned she died then by members of his mosque and from posts on the family’s Facebook page.

A funeral was held for the woman at a nearby mosque last weekend, Al-Hussainy said.

more: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2017/02/01/imam-disputes-mans-claim-mom-died-due-ban/97376084/