A newly enacted travel ban by President Donald Trump is causing uproar among Arab American communities in Michigan particularly Yemeni Americans who had cautiously supported him in the 2024 election. The policy, announced last week and implemented Monday, restricts travel from 12 countries, mostly in Africa and the Middle East, including Yemen.
The move has drawn comparisons to Trump’s controversial 2017 “Muslim ban,” and many in Michigan’s large Arab American population view it as a fresh betrayal. The ban comes despite a modest but significant shift in Arab American support toward Trump during the last election, especially in Dearborn, the country’s largest Arab-majority city.
“This is the reward to the community that defied everybody else?” asked Wali Altahif, a Yemeni American activist in Dearborn. “That said, ‘No, we’re going to support you’?”
The aim of the new ban, the Trump administration said, is to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”
Altahif described it as “selective discrimination” and “collective punishment.”
Michigan’s Arab American voters were already frustrated with both major parties particularly over US support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 55,000 Palestinians. Biden lost significant ground in Dearborn, while Trump picked up about 3,000 votes there though many voters turned to third-party options or abstained entirely.
Now, the community’s sense of political alienation is growing. For Yemeni Americans, who have endured years of civil war and instability back home, the ban is personal. Many have family members stuck abroad, and this policy threatens long-awaited reunifications. Altahif said it took his wife five years to secure a visa to the US.
“Every single family of Yemeni descendant is affected by the war in Yemen,” Altahif said. “And we were hopeful based on Trump’s promise that he was going to end the war.”
Rasheed Alnozili, publisher of the Dearborn-based online and print news services the Yemeni American News, said the travel ban will only stigmatize Yemeni and Arab communities in America and fuel Islamophobia, not counter terrorism.
“They are part of the society, they are raising their kids,” he said of Yemeni communities.
The Department of Homeland Security said the ban includes exceptions for green card holders and those seeking family-based visas. Still, civil rights attorney Amir Makled reports growing anxiety in the community. Some are canceling religious pilgrimages and international travel for fear of being stopped at the border even with legal status.
“This has had a similarly chilling effect as the 2017 policy,” Makled said.
Political analysts say Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan will play a pivotal role in the 2026 midterm races, with open seats for governor and US Senate. Both Democrats and Republicans are courting the vote, but many in Dearborn are signaling a growing openness to independent candidates.
“People overall are opting not to travel, even when they have a legal right to do so,” he said.
Both major political parties will have to appeal to the Arab and Muslim communities in the Detroit area in key upcoming races in 2026. With open races for the governor’s office and a US Senate seat, a few thousand votes could tip the balance of power in Lansing and in Congress.
“Where these voters land is going to, I think, make a difference in terms of who ends up in those seats,” said Peter Trumbore, chair of the department of political science at Oakland University.
Siblani called the travel ban a “racist” executive action that does nothing to help people in war-torn Yemen and Sudan, nations where many metro Detroit residents have relatives. But their disappointment in both Democrats and Republicans may leave them looking for a third option.
“I can see that there is an appetite in our community or a need in our communities to vote for an independent,” Siblani said.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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