Trump, Harris vie for Arab American, Muslim votes in Michigan as Yemenis gain spotlight

On a sunny Friday afternoon last month in Hamtramck, across the street from a Republican campaign office, a Muslim woman with a mauve headscarf and others on a sidewalk chanted in support of the former president: "We want Trump, we want Trump!" A wide banner outside a juice cafe on the block owned by an Arab immigrant declared: "Hamtramck Welcomes Trump." And some in the crowd held up signs that read: "Trump Secure Border — Kamala Open Border."

A few minutes earlier, Donald Trump's SUV had rolled down Jos Campau Avenue, a commercial strip in the heart of the working-class city led by Muslim elected officials with the highest percentage of immigrants among municipalities in Michigan. The Republican nominee for president had arrived to speak at the GOP office to a small group of Arab American and Muslim leaders and elected officials, led by Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, who endorsed him a few weeks earlier. The intense enthusiasm from the cheering crowd and those assembled inside on Oct. 18 illustrated how the Trump campaign's outreach to Arab Americans and Muslims in Michigan has become the most extensive by a Republican nominee since George W. Bush came to Dearborn 24 years ago to meet with its Middle Eastern communities. Trump is expected to visit Dearborn on Friday to speak at a halal cafe. The outreach also reflects the political rise of Michigan's Yemeni American community, which has struggled for years to gain recognition by Democrats, and at times facing discrimination. Many of the imams and groups who have endorsed Trump are of Yemeni descent, though he has gained support from others as well.

"We as Muslims stand with Trump because he promises peace ... not war," Imam Belal Alzuhiry, a Yemeni American cleric who preaches at the Islamic Center of Detroit, said to the crowd at a large Trump rally Saturday in Novi, a row of other Muslim leaders standing behind him. "We are supporting Donald Trump because he promises to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine. The bloodshed has to stop all over the world and I think this man can make that happen."

Kamala Harris campaign reaching out to Muslims

The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris has been fighting back, but has struggled to find acceptance amid growing anger in Wayne County over the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Yemen. When Arab American leaders who endorsed Harris, such as Ahmed Chebbani of the American-Arab Chamber of Commerce, held a news conference in Dearborn on Sunday to express their support for the Democratic nominee, protesters outside chanted: "Shame, shame!" and confronted them as they left, social media posts show. But Harris has gained the support of a small number of Arab Americans and Muslims, some of them with ties to local Democratic Party political machines that help fund some Arab American groups.

"When people say, 'vote your conscience,' I say, 'vote strategically,'" argued Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe, the highest ranking official of Arab descent in Michigan's largest county. Turfe had endorsed Harris in August, taking heat from Arab Americans who accused him of being a sellout. But he and others argue Harris is listening to them and that Democrats are their partners. On Monday, he spoke at a rally in Ann Arbor for Harris, saying she supports a cease-fire that "allows displaced families in Lebanon to return to their villages and gives the Palestinian people the dignity and self-determination they deserve." His remarks on Lebanon were different from Harris' usual cease-fire remarks and may help persuade some in Wayne County, which has the highest percentage of Lebanese Americans among all counties in the U.S. Michigan has the highest percentage of residents of Middle Eastern descent among all states. Supporters of Trump say he will be more supportive of Arabs, but when Trump landed at Detroit Metro Airport before driving to Hamtramck, he told reporters Biden was restricting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he said is "doing a good job. Biden is trying to hold him back … and he probably should be doing the opposite."

On Wednesday, Trump posted on X a tweet about Lebanon, saying he will bring peace to the Middle East.

"Your friends and family in Lebanon deserve to live in peace, prosperity, and harmony with their neighbors, and that can only happen with peace and stability in the Middle East," Trump wrote. "I look forward to working with the Lebanese community living in the United States of America to ensure the safety and security of the great people of Lebanon."

Three members of Hamtramck's all-Muslim city council have also endorsed Harris: Councilmen Mohammed Hassan and Muhith Mahmood, who are immigrants from Bangladesh, and Councilman Mohammed Alsomiri, an immigrant from Yemen. Alsomiri may be the only elected official of Arab descent in Wayne County who has publicly endorsed Harris; the Free Press was unable to find any others, but did not contact all of them. On Saturday, the three councilmen who support Harris helped organize a car rally and gathering in support of Harris in Detroit and Hamtramck that featured some Biden administration and Harris campaign officials, including Nasrina Bargzie, director of Muslim and Arab American outreach for the Harris campaign.

"Harris has been steadfast in her support of our country's diverse Muslim community, including ensuring that they can live free from the hateful policies of the Trump administration," Bargzie said in a statement Thursday to the Free Press. "She will continue working to bring the war in Gaza to an end in a way where Israel is secure, the hostages are released ... and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination. She is also working to address the suffering in Lebanon."

Biden's support for the new government in Bangladesh led by Muhammad Yunus after the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina this summer may have led to Harris getting some support from Bangladeshi Americans who supported the removal of Hasina, such as Hassan. Another city councilman of Bangladeshi descent who was supportive of Hasina, Abu Musa, has endorsed Trump and was one of the Hamtramck officials who awarded him a certificate of appreciation at the Hamtramck rally. On Thursday, Trump posted a statement on X condemning the recent violence in Bangladesh against "Hindus, Christians, and other minorities who are getting attacked and looted by mobs in Bangladesh, which remains in a total state of chaos."

Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck mayors back Trump

The Monday after Trump's Hamtramck rally, Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi joined Ghalib and an Islamic Shia cleric of Iraqi descent, Imam Husham Al-Husainy of Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, on a press call organized by the Trump campaign. Both have endorsed Trump.

"We need a commander in chief to come in and stop the wars," Bazzi, a Muslim immigrant from Lebanon who served in the Marines for 21 years before becoming the first Muslim mayor of Dearborn Heights in 2021, said on the Oct. 21 call. "The home that my grandparents built was just destroyed a few days ago in south Lebanon."

Bazzi, who leads a city that is 39% Arab American, also railed against "illegals ... coming in" who commit "atrocities against the American people. It's pretty disgusting."

Later that week, on Oct. 26, Alzuhiry and about 20 other Muslim leaders met with Trump backstage at Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, local leaders said. Some of them and others met with Trump previously in Detroit, Warren or Flint. Part of the group then took the stage in one of the more striking scenes ever seen at a big Republican presidential rally: a row of clerics in Islamic garb and caps strode on stage as Trump greeted them with smiles, shaking their hands.

The Novi rally "was an astonishing event to see," said Dr. Yahya Basha, of West Bloomfield, a longtime Arab American and Muslim community leader in Michigan who endorsed Biden in 2020 and Trump this year. It represented "a major shift" as Republicans were publicly associating themselves with groups they have demonized for years in the war on terrorism, he said. "I was happy (Trump) did it," said Basha, who met with Trump earlier in Warren.

Dressed in traditional Arab dress and a dark blue suitcoat, Alzuhiry made remarks in Novi that were publicized by Trump campaign accounts and supporters on social media who said it showed support for Trump among Muslim leaders. But a majority of imams of the largest mosques were not at the event, and those who usually are public voices for Muslims and hold news conferences in Michigan did not attend.

Echoing the views of some evangelical leaders who believe divine intervention saved Trump during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Alzuhiry talked about a higher power and how Trump shares the values of their community.

"I believe personally that God has saved his life for a reason, which is to save the lives of others," Alzuhiry told the crowd. "We support Donald J. Trump for his commitment to promoting family values and protecting our children's well-being, especially when it comes to curriculum and schools. We as Muslims support this man because he will be a president for all Americans, embracing every race, color and religion. We are with President Trump because we want a strong border. And we agree with President Trump that anyone who wants to come to this county is welcome, but he has to do that through legal pathways. We are with President Trump because we want a strong economy."

Alzuhiry says on the homepage of his Facebook account that he is opposed to "all forms of Extremism in the name of Islam especially ISIS, ALQADAH, HOUTHI, HIZBALLAH," referencing militant groups the U.S. labels as terrorists. Alzhuiry did not return messages from the Free Press seeking comment.

Other Muslim leaders who joined Trump on stage were Sheikh Saleh Aljahim of the Iman Islamic Complex in Detroit, who has been a community leader for decades in the Yemeni American community; Dr. Ghaus Malik, one of the cofounders of the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit and active in Pakistani American causes, and Yasser Abu Ammar with the Islamic Center of Hamtramck. It's unclear if they have endorsed Trump or just attended to hear him speak. None of the prominent imams in the Shia community were at the rally.

"Many of the religious leaders are staying neutral," said Sally Howell, professor of history and Arab American studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, who has studied local Arab American and Muslim communities for decades. The small number who are backing Harris are part of an older generation of Arab American leaders who are not as influential today, she said. Meanwhile, younger leaders and "the Yemenis feel they have been shut out" and "can't get a toe in the door" of establishment groups and parties.

In recent years, Muslim activists in Dearborn and Hamtramck have fought back against LGBTQ+ curriculum in public schools and on city property, shutting down a school board meeting two years ago. In 2022, Republican leaders and Moms for Liberty came to Dearborn to rally alongside Muslims against some LGBTQ+ books in the school district they felt were too explicit, resulting in Democrats such as U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer losing support in Arab-majority precincts. That anger has pushed many Muslims toward the GOP even before the Israel-Hamas war started last year, Howell said. Al-Husainy said he supports Trump "because I found him closer to the Bible and Torah and the Quran," expressing concern that under Harris and Democrats, "the boys will turn to girls and the girls will turn to a boy."

Hassan Aoun, of Dearborn, one of the leaders in 2022 against the controversial books in Dearborn schools, also has endorsed Trump, saying he will bring peace, improve the economy and fight against what he called "homosexual and transgender ideology."

Several Arab American leaders not supporting anyone

A number of Arab Americans and Muslims are not endorsing Trump or Harris. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who leads a city that has the highest percentage of residents of Middle Eastern ancestry among cities in the U.S., said he's not endorsing any candidate.

"We cannot condone any president that uplifts, any administration that bombs every school, decimating children to smithereens," Hammoud said on Sept. 25 at a rally for Lebanon held a couple of days after more than 500 were killed in Israeli strikes on one day. "Those are the values that we will take with us through November. I am not here to endorse any single candidate for no candidate has earned my vote. ... The one thing that I do endorse is ... you cast your ballot and that you vote. ... Vote your moral conscience."

Dearborn City Council President Michael Sareini, who was the top vote-getter in the 2021 city council elections, also is not endorsing anyone, he told the Free Press. Another city councilman of Arab descent, Mustapha Hammoud, said he is not endorsing anyone. And the Arab American Political Action Committee, formed in 1998, said it is not endorsing anyone for president, criticizing both Harris and Trump for their support of Israel. Another PAC in Dearborn, the American Arab and Muslim Political Action Committee, endorsed Jill Stein, saying that "after extensive dialogue with both the Harris and Trump campaigns, we found no commitment to addressing the urgent concerns of our community." The Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee, led by Asad Malik of IAGD mosque in Rochester Hills, endorsed Trump, disappointed with what they said was Biden's lack of support for democracy in Pakistan. A local government official of Pakistani descent, Madiha Tariq, a deputy Oakland County executive, has endorsed Harris.

State Reps. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, and Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, the two state representatives of Arab descent, did not return messages asking about their endorsements, but have not said publicly they are endorsing anyone. U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, has also not said publicly if she is endorsing anyone. Black Muslim leaders in metro Detroit are divided, with Imam Mika'il Stewart Saadiq of Detroit endorsing Harris while others are neutral; some Black Muslim leaders did attend Trump's rally in Novi.

"I will not support Harris, who along with Biden, could have ended this genocide and ... the weapon shipments used to fuel it," said Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni, a longtime community activist of Lebanese descent who is voting for Cornel West. "Trump is no better and will allow Netanyahu to fast-forward the genocide and ethnic cleansing."

Moughni said Arab Americans who support Trump fail to take into consideration he may reinstate the travel ban that included some Muslim-majority nations and has talked about deporting some antiwar protesters accused of sympathizing with Hamas and reinstating the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that could target many immigrants.

Speaking at the Hamtramck rally, Ghalib addressed the issue of whether Trump will target Arabs for deportation, telling Trump that "one thing the Democrats keep sending to our community is to scare them, that you will ... deport them although some of them are second and third generation immigrants. So I want you to respond to these accusations and fear delivered to our community."

The crowd then shouted "Fake news!" Trump repeated it, saying "Fake news," adding that he's often attacked: "Is this the new one? 'I'm going to come and we're going to deport, but just your community.'" Trump then praised the predominantly Arab American crowd as "great people … great workers."

The issue of undocumented immigration is not as big an issue in Arab American communities as it is in other groups, but ICE did target some Iraqi Americans when Trump was president, leading to protests.

Ghalib also said earlier that Trump apologized for calling people from Yemen extremists at a recent rally in Pennsylvania.

GOP outreach developed over years

Last year, Ghalib visited an evangelical church in Sterling Heights to meet with Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who was once Trump's national security adviser before pleading guilty to lying to the FBI over his Russia ties. Flynn later came to Hamtramck to hold a town hall in September 2023 with Muslims and Republicans cohosted with Ghalib. It was the beginning of a relationship with the GOP that continued to build until Ghalib's endorsement of Trump one year later.

Part of the frustration in Hamtramck was that several Democrats, including state Attorney General Dana Nessel, had criticized their city for banning LGBTQ+ and other flags on city property even though another city in metro Detroit, Livonia, had passed a similar bill, but did not face similar condemnations.

Trump's family ties with Lebanese Americans also played a role in developing relationships. A son-in-law of Trump of Lebanese descent, Michael Boulous, and his father, billionaire businessman Massad Boulos, came to Troy in May along with Richard Grenell, Trump's former director of national intelligence, to meet with Arab American and Muslim leaders. Massad Boulos has visited Michigan several times this year, meeting with various Middle Eastern leaders to encourage them to support Trump.

The Middle Eastern communities of Michigan are not a monolith and have diverse backgrounds and views. Chaldeans, who are Iraqi Catholics, have also been courted this year by the Republicans. The group usually votes Republican, said Martin Manna, head of the Chaldean Community Foundation. Manna attended the Hamtramck rally with Trump along with another business leader, Nasser Beydoun of Dearborn, who ran for U.S. Senate earlier this year as a Democrat, but was disqualified from the ballot.

Hassan, who introduced the resolution to ban LGBTQ+ flags last year in Hamtramck, has endorsed Harris, but has posted a couple of photos on his Facebook page this week showing he's still opposed to LGBTQ+ flags. His posts sought to portray Trump as being anti-Muslim and pro-LGBTQ.

"Salam Brothers and Sisters in the USA. Don’t forget same guy more crazy," Hassan wrote Tuesday, with one photo showing a news story of Trump saying in 2015 he wanted to stop Muslims from entering the U.S. and another photo showing Trump holding a Pride flag with the words "LGBT for Trump" written on the flag. The posts indicate Hassan is trying to convince Muslims to not vote for Trump because he is pro-LGBTQ+. Democrats have said that Harris is more supportive of LGBTQ+ rights than Trump. Hassan also claimed that Harris will appoint three Bangladeshi Americans to her administration if elected.

On Wednesday night, another controversy erupted as former President Bill Clinton spoke in a west Michigan church about Arab Americans and the Israel-Hamas war. Clinton said Hamas was to blame for using civilians as shields and that Jewish people lived in that region before Islam existed, drawing criticism from some Muslim advocates and Hammoud, who said Thursday on X that Clinton has "no respect for this community."

U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, who in May suggested the possibility of dropping nuclear bombs on Gaza, visited Hamtramck and other cities last week, meeting with Ghalib and other Arab Americans. In a Facebook post, Graham praised Arab Americans, saying: "If you care about what happens in Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and other Arab nations, you want a President who will stand up to Iran."

Basha said the Republican embrace of Muslims shows that "people can change."

(This story was updated to correct an inaccuracy.)

Reporter Clara Hendrickson contributed to this report.

Contact Niraj Warikoo:[email protected] or X @nwarikoo

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump, Harris court Arab American, Muslim voters in Michigan