Michigan Arab and Muslim leaders fuming after second Biden visit this year with no meeting
For the second time this year, President Joe Biden visited Michigan without any in-person meetings with members of its Arab American or Muslim communities.
SAGINAW, Mich. — For the second time this year, President Joe Biden visited Michigan without any in-person meetings with members of its Arab American or Muslim communities as he faces protests at campaign events and at the ballot box over Israel’s military action in Gaza.
According to the Biden campaign, the president on Thursday visited Saginaw, which it called “a diverse city with a plurality Black and large Latino population,” for an organizing meeting. It said Biden would deliver remarks to highlight “the stark contrast between his agenda of lowering costs for Michiganders and Donald Trump’s attacks on working families in the state, including his comments this week promising to cut Medicare and Social Security.”
But Biden’s team kept the location of the stop close as it tries to minimize the chances of protests and interruptions at events over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
In January and February, officials from the campaign and the White House traveled to Dearborn to meet with some members of the Muslim and Arab American communities, but Biden himself didn’t join on either occasion.
Several leaders of the community also chose not to attend as they continue to press Biden to engage more directly with them, demand an immediate cease-fire in the war and place conditions on further U.S. military aid to Israel.
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