Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib meets with Donald Trump during Michigan visit

Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib met with former president Donald Trump in Michigan on Tuesday, shortly before Trump's town hall in Flint.

Ghalib told the Free Press "it was a productive meeting" in Flint of about 20 minutes and that Trump asked for his endorsement. Ghalib said he told Trump: "I’m here to talk about that and how we can make it happen."

The mayor said he "then handed him an official letter with some details about our concerns and to invite him to come to Hamtramck if possible."

Ghalib added that Trump "asked me if I can endorse him and ask people to vote for him."

Hamtramck Police Chief Jamiel Altaheri also attended Ghalib's meeting with Trump. Altaheri told the Free Press that Trump campaign officials spoke with him about the logistics and security issues of a possible visit by Trump to Hamtramck.

The meeting is part of an effort by the Trump campaign to win over Arab American and Muslim voters, some of whom are upset with President Joe Biden over his policies in Gaza. Ghalib has been outspoken in support of Palestinians over the past year. He supported the renaming in March of a major street, Holbrook, to Palestine Avenue, in solidarity with Palestinians, and also backed the city resolution approved in May to divest from Israel.

Ghalib said that Trump "knew a lot about me prior to the meeting. We talked about various topics including the debates, the polls updates, the statistics of votes in Michigan and Wayne county, the Arab American concerns and the Yemeni Americans in particular."

Ghalib, an immigrant from Yemen whose city has the highest concentration of Yemeni Americans among cities in the U.S., said "we also talked about the situation in Yemen."

Hamtramck has the second highest percentage of Arab American residents in Michigan after Dearborn and also a growing Bangladeshi American population. The mayor and all six members of the Hamtramck city council are Muslim, the only all-Muslim city council in the U.S.

Last year, Ghalib held a town hall meeting with Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser and now an outspoken conservative activist. Arab Americans in Hamtramck and other parts of Wayne County have also expressed frustration with the Democrats on social issues. In November 2022, Democratic candidates lost support in majority-Arab precincts in Dearborn after outrage over LGBTQ+ books in Dearborn public schools some said were sexually explicit.

Hassan Aoun and Rola Makki, Republican activists in Dearborn, were among those in Arab American communities in Michigan who attended the Flint town hall.

"A lot of people are shifting to the right," Aoun said of Dearborn's Arab American population. Aoun said many in the community were upset with how Vice President Kamala Harris responded to Muslim protesters who heckled her during a Romulus rally last month when she told them "I'm speaking" and then accused them of helping Trump. Aoun said that Trump would not support new wars.

"I will vote for Trump," Aoun said.

Last week, one of Trump's attorneys, Alina Habba, who's Iraqi-American, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, met with Chaldeans at the Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield as part of Republican outreach to the Iraqi-American Christian community in Michigan. At the Republican National Convention, Habba spoke from the main stage, calling herself "a devout Catholic, a proud first-generation Arab American woman." Habba is believed to be the only speaker of Middle Eastern descent who spoke from the main stage at either the Republican or Democratic National Conventions this summer, said Arab American advocates.

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Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein and presidential candidate Cornel West visited Dearborn last week to court Arab American voters. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud met with Harris last month, but has not endorsed her.

Ghalib appeared to receive positive response from Arab Americans to his meeting with Trump.

Khalil Othman, of Dearborn, said Ghalib is a man with principles who respects religion. Othman, who once got into a tiff with late night host Stephen Colbert, has said he became Republican after being frustrated with Democrats over its policies in public schools.

Mohamed Alduais, of the Yemeni American Leadership Association in Hamtramck, also praised Ghalib's meeting with Trump, calling it important and historic. He said the community will help elect Trump.

The positive response on Facebook to Ghalib's meeting with Trump was in contrast to the negative response that Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe, the highest ranking official of Arab descent in the county, received last month after he endorsed Harris.

Dr. Yahya Basha, of West Bloomfield, a longtime Arab American and Muslim advocate in Michigan, said this week some are thinking of creating an 'Abandon Democrats' campaign amid frustration with state Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, charging 11 pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. On Wednesday, some Arab American groups held a press conference in Dearborn denouncing the charges, echoing the views of an earlier statement from ACLU Michigan criticizing Nessel's charges.

Michigan, which has the highest percentage of residents with Middle Eastern ancestry among all states in the U.S., is seen as a swing state.

Biden won Hamtramck in 2020, but in the Democratic primary in February, he lost in the city to the "Uncommitted" vote. The Uncommitted movement was started in Dearborn by Arab American activists opposed to Biden's policies in Gaza. Biden also lost to the Uncommitted vote in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.

Elected officials in Wayne County of Arab descent who are Democrats have not been openly supporting Harris amid concern they will lose support in the community amid anger over the Biden administration's staunch support for Israeli's military.

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

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib meets with Donald Trump in Michigan