Iraqi PM to meet Arab Americans in Michigan
LANSING: The leader of Iraq travelled to Michigan on Thursday following a sit-down with President Joe Biden to meet with the state’s large Iraqi community and update them on escalating tensions in the Middle East following Iran’s weekend aerial assault on Israel.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani’s trip to both Washington and Michigan to discuss Us-iraq relations had been planned well before Saturday’s drone and missile launches from Iranbacked groups.
The visit has been thrust into the spotlight as tensions in the region escalate following the strike, which included drone and missile launches that overflew Iraqi airspace and others that were launched from Iraq by Iran-backed groups.
Michigan holds one of the largest populations of Iraqis in the nation and many local Democrats have pushed back against US support for Israel’s war in Gaza following the Hamas atack on Oct.7. The state holds the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country.
The Iraqi prime minister was met by Wayne County Executive Warren Evans upon arrival on Thursday in addition to multiple leaders within the area’s Arab American community, including Deputy Wayne County Executive Assad I. Turfe and Dearborn’s state Rep. Alabas Farhat.
A motorcade of over 40 cars then travelled to a mosqueindearbornheightswheretheprimeminister met Iraqi community members and officials to give an update on his meeting with Biden talking about the economic relations between Iraq and the US.
Localwaynecountyleadersemphasisedthatthe meeting had been planned before this weekend’s developments, saying that a goal of the trip was to build relationships in a community that holds the largest Iraqi population outside of the Middle East.
Therearejustover90,000residentsinmichigan of Iraqi descent, the largest of any state, according to the most recent US Census.
In Wayne County, home to the cities of Detroit and Dearborn, 7.8% of residents identified of Middle
Eastern and North African ancestry, alone or in any combination, the highest percentage of any US county.
The concentration of those residents in the outskirts of Detroit has led to multiple visits to the area from officials engaged in Middle Eastern relations.
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to Biden, travelled to metro Detroit in March to meet Lebanese Americans and discuss efforts to prevent the conflict from expanding along Israel’s northern border, where Hizbollah operates.