Eighteen months after helping elect Donald Trump to a second term with hopes he would bring peace to the Middle East, Arab Americans in Dearborn, Michigan—the nation’s largest Arab American community—say the conflict has worsened instead. Inside mosques and at vigils, families wait for word from relatives abroad while mourning those already lost. The conflict that began with anguish over Gaza has widened to Lebanon, where the expanding war has displaced more than 1 million people and killed more than 2,000.
Arab American leaders said life has not improved since Trump took office, but many expressed little regret about their electoral choice, primarily because they viewed the Democratic alternative as offering no meaningful difference on Middle East policy.
A Community’s Reckoning
Last week, Nabih Ayad, founder of the Arab American Civil Rights League, met with the Associated Press alongside other Arab American leaders—county commissioners, state lawmakers, and business owners. Many had been deeply involved in conversations with both Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns during 2024.
When asked how their decision to support Trump has worked out, the response was uniform: life has not improved.
“The community now sees that it could have got worse—and it did get worse,” Ayad said. “But the community was just so desperate.”
Despite conditions worsening, few leaders expressed regret. Many said the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, had not offered a viable alternative because she did not distance herself sufficiently from President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Wayne County Commissioner Sam Baydoun, one of the few Arab American leaders to endorse Harris in 2024, captured the community’s mood bluntly. “I think November 3rd couldn’t come soon enough,” he said, referring to the midterm elections.
The Expanding War
As the United States joined Israel in attacking Iran, the conflict widened to include Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. A two-week ceasefire announced last week did not extend to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, meaning the violence continues.
The war in Lebanon has displaced more than 1 million people and killed more than 2,000, including more than 500 women, children, and medical workers. Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington.
Michigan hosts the nation’s largest Arab American population—nearly a quarter of Lebanese descent. In Wayne County, which includes Detroit and Dearborn, about a third of the roughly 140,000 residents identified as Middle Eastern or North African in the 2020 Census are Lebanese.
For many, that means constant worry. Assad Turfe, a Wayne County official who was among the few Arab Americans to endorse Harris in 2024, has family in Lebanon—an uncle with his wife and children and grandchildren.
“I’m just waiting for the call from overseas saying that he’s perished,” Turfe said. “This is the kind of environment that this community is living with every day. That story is in the minds and the hearts of almost everyone that lives in this community.”
Inside Mosques and at Vigils
On a recent Friday in Dearborn Heights, over a hundred worshippers packed into a mosque for afternoon prayer. An imam opened by addressing the conflict in the Middle East and criticizing Trump’s recent comments.
“Political leaders are supposed to build the bridges, not promote scorched earth policies,” the imam said, referring to Trump’s statement that a “whole civilization will die” if Iran did not agree to his terms.
That evening, Peace Park in Dearborn filled with Lebanese flags as a vigil took over the main square. Children sat on steps draped in American flags, holding photos of children killed in the war. Speakers took turns describing a conflict that has stretched across presidencies with little sign of easing.
Suehaila Amen, a Lebanese American who attended the vigil, reflected on what the community has endured.
“What we have witnessed is not just another headline. It is not distant. It is not abstract,” she said. “We are a community in mourning, and we have been mourning for a long, long time.”