Dearborn Heights Mayor Bazzi appointed as US ambassador to Tunisia by President Trump

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - He’s the mayor of Dearborn Heights, but President Donald Trump has tapped him to be an ambassador to Tunisia.

Big picture view:

Dearborn Heights mayor, Bill Bazzi said he’s going to take his wooden American flag made for him by a constituent when he becomes the new United States ambassador to Tunisia. He recalled how he talked to President Trump‘s transition team, who offered him the job as an ambassador.  

"I like diplomacy, you know, I like overseas assignments, I’ve done overseas assignments, and you know like yeah I’ll take something ambassadorship," Bazzi said. "I’ve been to Tunisia. I’ve worked with the Parliament over there. I worked with elected officials."

Local perspective:

Before his election as mayor of Dearborn Heights in 2021, Bazzi was a manager at Boeing and an engineer at Ford. 

He spent a total of 21 years as a US Marine.

"I have secret clearances. I had top-secret clearances before in the past, and I’ve been doing whatever I can," he said. "You know my duty is just a marine, but as an American, you know so I’m pretty good. I feel good about it."

He’ll have to live in Tunisia, a country of about 12 million whose first language is Arabic, although not a problem for Bazzi, who is from Lebanon and is fluent.  

"I’m going to miss my residents and my residence are amazing," he said. "You know this is a beautiful city."

Bazzi says he is looking forward to working with Trump.

"The president is doing everything he can to prevent wars just to make sure that we have, you know, peace," he said.

What's next:

He still needs to be confirmed by a majority vote of the US Senate. 

He says he’s still working on filling out a lot of paperwork for the upcoming committee hearing.