Hindu, Muslim immigrants warm up to Donald Trump overture in key swing State Michigan

Minority voters in Michigan, including Hindu and Muslim immigrants, are shifting towards supporting Trump due to cultural concerns.

Economic insecurity and cultural anxieties triggering white nativism is the familiar explanation for the sustained popularity of Donald Trump in the United States, but that may not be the whole story. Segments of Hindu and Muslim immigrants in the key swing State of Michigan also support the Republican for the same reasons, as they begin to view the Democratic Party’s cultural agenda disorienting and its soft border policy threatening their interests.

Kamal Rahman, who was mayoral candidate in Hamtramck, a city in the outskirts of Detroit which has an all-Muslim council, had voted for Joe Biden in 2020, and always for Democrats earlier but this time he is rooting for Mr. Trump. “Trump is better for all immigrants, Hindu or Muslim, in America and for all Muslims around the world,” Mr. Rahman, who migrated from Bangladesh told The Hindu on Friday evening, even as Mr. Trump campaigned for Muslim votes in the city. “American attacks killed more Muslims when Barack Obama was President than when Trump was. Trump did not start new wars when he was in office and he has promised he will stop ongoing wars,” Mr. Rahman said, blaming the “collapse of leadership under the Biden-Harris” administration for the plight of Palestinians. The multi-front war in West Asia is one major reason for Muslims - Arab and South Asian - to split from the Democrats this time.

Mr. Trump has sensed the opportunity in this tilt among minority voters in the State he won in 2016 and lost in 2020. Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni American mayor of Hamtramck, and now a political ally of Mr Rahman, has endorsed Mr. Trump and so has Bill Bazzi, the first Muslim and Arab American mayor of Dearborn Heights, another nearby city. Mr. Trump was in Dearborn, called the Arab capital of America, on Friday. “We have a great feeling for Lebanon, and I know so many people from Lebanon, the Lebanese people,” Mr. Trump said. “The Muslim population, they’re liking Trump, and I’ve had a good relationship with them. ..we want their votes, and we’re looking for their votes, and I think we’ll get their votes.” Earlier in the week, Mr. Trump had specifically addressed the Hindu community on Deepavali, promising to protect their religious freedom.

Though three of the Muslim members of the Hamtramck city council are supporting Ms. Harris, Mr. Rahman and Mr. Ghalib are united in their preference for Mr. Trump. “I will not run for mayor next time if Ghalib is contesting,” he said.

Mr. Rahman is also coordinating his community mobilisation with Sunny Reddy, a Telugu businessman who is running for the governing board of Wayne State University as a Republican. Top on Mr. Reddy’s agenda are, “fighting wokeness” and ensuring that affirmative action barred by the US Supreme Court in 2023 does not make a “backdoor return.” Mr. Rahman concurs. “Children of immigrants are denied college admission when race considerations kick in. People from all Asian countries are clubbed together as one in such policies, and even after the SC barred it, there are moves to factor race and gender,” said Mr. Reddy, wowing to ensure that the court order prevails. Both of them - the Republican and the Democrat- are in agreement that Democrats are diverting the resources of the Citizenship and Immigration Services are diverted to process applications of undocumented entrants into the country. “Let’s be very clear on this one - illegal immigration is most harmful for legal immigrants, present and future,” said Mr. Reddy.

Ashok Baddi, trustee of a local temple who identifies himself as a Hindu activist is a Democrat but on Saturday morning, he was mobilising several Indian families to vote for Mr. Trump. “We will have at least 100 people voting in a group today,” he said, quickly adding that barring for President, his other votes will all be for Democrat candidates, including a Muslim. “Trump and Modi-ji work well, and his presidency will be good for bilateral relations,” Mr. Baddi said. Mr. Baddi feels at least half of Hindus in Detroit region would be voting Mr. Trump, Mr. Ramhan puts the proportion of Trump supporters among Muslims at 20 percent. “Most supporters of Trump prefer to remain silent.”

Conflicts over gender debates and school administration in the recent past, in Detroit and surrounding cities of Hamtramck and Dearborn Heights are also among the reasons for minorities relooking at their association with the Democratic Party. “It is one thing to say that everyone should have equal rights. But to indoctrinate children, and to even offer them transition therapy in schools, is unacceptable to immigrant communities,” Mr. Rahman said. Both Mr. Reddy and Mr. Rahman had no personal knowledge of any such incidents, but they view the Democrats as promoters of such an agenda nationwide. “But we have incidents of inappropriate books being placed in school libraries. The law does not even allow these children to choose between their father and mother in the event of a custody battle, until a certain age. How can we argue that let kids choose whatever they want?” said Mr. Reddy.