Hamtramck, Michigan, Mayor Amer Ghalib made headlines over the weekend by endorsing former President Donald Trump’s latest bid for president, putting the U.S.’ only Muslim-majority town in the national spotlight.
Ghalib, who became Hamtramck’s first Muslim mayor after being elected in 2021, was born in Yemen and immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager in 1997, according to a profile of the mayor posted by Henry Ford College.
He attended Hamtramck High School and worked at a factory, eventually going on to attend then-Henry Ford Community College and Wayne State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and pre-med. He later attended the Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica, where he completed four years but did not complete his residency.
Ghalib spent most of his career as a medical professional in Hamtramck, an enclave of Detroit with about 28,000 residents. The town was known as a mostly Polish settlement until recent decades, with a large influx of Middle Eastern immigrants eventually making it the nation’s first Muslim-majority city.
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Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, 43, is photographed in his office at City Hall in Hamtramck, Michigan, on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
He made history when he defeated former Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski, breaking an over 100-year streak of the city being represented by a Polish-American mayor. The city also became the first in the nation with an all-Muslim elected leadership that same year, with Hamtramck’s six city council seats being won by Muslim candidates.
However, Ghalib has also attracted controversy during his time as mayor, including his support of a 2023 resolution that banned the display of LGBTQ+ flags on city property.
“You do not know our city more than we do, and you will not know the consequences of opening the door for every group to fly their flag on city properties,” Ghalib said in a statement to critics of the move in a Detroit Free Press report. “Our residents are all equally important to us, and we will continue to serve them equally without discrimination, favoritism or preferential treatment to any group. The city government will stay NEUTRAL and IMPARTIAL toward its residents.”
Later the same year, he attracted more controversy when he failed to condemn one of his political appointees who was accused of making antisemitic comments.
According to a report on the controversy from the Hamtramck Review, Hamtramck Plan Commission member Nasr Hussain came under fire for questioning whether Jewish people were being punished by God during the Holocaust for actions Israel is now taking in Gaza.
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“Was the Holocaust God’s advance punishment of the ‘Chosen People’ for the savagery they’re committing today against the innocent Palestinians children and civilians,” Hussain posted on the popular local Facebook page, “Hamtramck Square.”
HAMTRAMCK, MI – APRIL 16, 2017: Lindsay Tukes, 25, whose Muslim name is Amiraldeen Alghazali, rides home from her class on the Quran in Hamtramck, Michigan, on April 16, 2017. Hamtramck, a city surrounded by Detroit, became the first city in the United States with a Muslim-majority population. (Photo by Lynsey Addario/Getty Images)
“A heinous act proving that they’re as savage and cruel as the Nazis themselves, or even worse.(Take into consideration that God isn’t confined by space or time and that they believe in reincarnation.),” he added.
“You can ask Nasr about that. What do I have to do with his posts! I don’t have to comment on every resident’s opinion, otherwise I would have commented on some posts that insult Islam and other religions, which are posted frequently by some residents on that same Facebook group,” Ghalib responded when asked by the Hamtramck Review to respond to the post.
Ghalib and the Hamtramck City Council entered the spotlight again earlier this year, when the city voted unanimously to approve a resolution that required the city to avoid investing in Israeli companies or those supporting “Israeli apartheid,” according to a report from the Detroit Free Press, a sweeping show of support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that has targeted Israeli companies.
“For now, the city will do its best to refrain from buying, investing or contracting with companies that support the Israeli genocide,” Ghalib said after the vote.
Nevertheless, Trump lobbied hard for Ghalib’s endorsement, according to a report in the Detroit News, holding a private 20-minute meeting with the Hamtramck mayor prior to his event in Flint, Michigan, last Tuesday.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump lobbied hard for Mayor Amer Ghalib’s endorsement. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
“He asked me if I can endorse him and ask people to vote for him? I told him: ‘I’m here to talk about that and how we can make it happen,'” Ghalib told the Detroit News. “I then handed him an official letter with some details about our concerns and to invite him to come to Hamtramck if possible.”
Ghalib would eventually come through with that endorsement, taking to Facebook to praise Trump as “a man of principles.”
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“Though it’s 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 wrote in Arabic on his Facebook page. “I’ll not regret my decision no matter what the outcome would be, and I’m ready to face the consequences. For this, and for many other reasons, I announce my support and endorsement for the former, and hopefully, the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.”
Neither Ghalib’s office nor the Trump campaign immediately responded to Fox News Digital requests for comment.