Top aides to the Biden administration will travel to Michigan on Thursday to hear directly from Muslim and Arab-American community leaders on their main issues and concerns, including the war between Israel and Hamas and civilian casualties in Gaza.
The White House discussed the upcoming visit to Michigan when President Joe Biden visited Detroit last week for a labor-focused event with the United Auto Workers union.
A White House official told NBC News on Wednesday that administration officials traveling to Michigan on Thursday included Steve Benjamin, senior adviser to the president and director of the Office of Public Engagement; Tom Perez, senior advisor and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser; Samantha Power, USAID Administrator; Jamie Citron, principal deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement; Dan Kosh, director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; and Mazen Basraw, National Security Council director for partnerships and global engagement.
The meeting with leaders of the Muslim and Arab American communities in Detroit is an event led by the White House. Biden campaign officials do not plan to attend at this time.
Biden has met with leaders who hold diverse views on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, and White House officials have been in regular contact with Muslim and Arab American leaders in Michigan and across the country, a a White House official said.
Biden has been under pressure to respond more aggressively to the civilian death toll in Gaza, which surpassed 27,000 this month. according to local health authorities. US begins sending humanitarian aid to Gaza in November and Biden had also pushed Congress to adopt a bipartisan agreement on immigration this included additional aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
CNN was the first to report Thursday’s trip to Michigan.
Biden administration officials’ meeting with Muslim and Arab Americans Thursday is the latest episode of their community awareness as the president continues to face criticism for his response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The president also quietly held a meeting with a handful of Muslim leaders in October, according to four sources close to the White House meeting, amid pressure from the Arab-American community over what it saw as its disregard for the deaths of Palestinian civilians and domestic threats resulting from the war between Israel and Hamas.