The city of Hamtramck celebrates Eid, the celebration at the end of the Muslim holy month of fasting, Ramadan, in this undated photo. (City of Hamtramck)
(Tribune News Service) — Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib has endorsed former President Donald Trump in the presidential race, a move the Republican nominee quickly touted on social media.
Ghalib, who is Muslim and a Yemeni immigrant, announced his endorsement on social media Sunday evening and it came less than a week after the two met in Flint at a Trump campaign event. Ghalib said he and Trump met at the Dort Financial Center before Trump addressed the crowd and the former president asked for Ghalib’s endorsement.
Among the things the two discussed was a cease-fire in the Middle East and on the domestic front, ways of “breaking the wall between the Republican Party and the minorities,” Ghalib said in a video he posted on social media last week. The video is a separate post from the mayor’s endorsement that he posted Sunday on Facebook.
“President Trump and I may not agree on everything, but I know he is a man of principles,” Ghalib said in the endorsement post. “Though it is looking good, he may or may not win the election and be the 47th president of the United States, but I believe he is the right choice for this critical time.”
Ghalib confirmed the endorsement on Monday to The Detroit News but didn’t comment further, referring to the video he posted last week. In that video, Ghalib shares what he and Trump discussed in Flint.
“He assured that his goal is to end the chaos in the Middle East and elsewhere. He doesn’t want wars,” Ghalib said in the video.
Ghalib is one of the more prominent Arab American leaders in Metro Detroit to publicly back Trump over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House. Assad Turfe, the deputy county executive for Wayne County, has endorsed Harris for the presidency.
But last week, Arab American leaders in Michigan of the Uncommitted Movement said they refuse to endorse Harris because she has not made a policy shift away from supporting U.S. weapons for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza. Leaders in the Uncommitted Movement said they would still work to defeat Trump and were discouraging votes for third-party candidates.
Ghalib pointed out that he and others have been “calling for the past 11 months” a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war that has escalated into a broader conflict in the region.
“But nobody listens. Nobody is putting enough effort to address our concern,” Ghalib said.
The mayor also asked Trump to visit Hamtramck, a roughly two-square mile city of 28,000 residents that is surrounded by Detroit.
Ghalib is an immigrant from Yemen. In 2021, he ousted incumbent mayor Karen Majewski. He and other Muslim candidates for city council won in that election in Hamtramck. U.S. Census data shows more than 40% of Hamtramck’s population now is foreign-born, including natives of Yemen.
Last year, Ghalib was among a group of Hamtramck residents who met with controversial conservative activist Michael Flynn, a former Army general and Trump’s first national security adviser. In 2017, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. He was later pardoned by then-President Trump. Flynn visited Hamtramck last year.
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