Abdul El-Sayed called himself "an immigrant from North Africa" at the Michigan Democratic Party's Spring 2017 convention, marking the latest example of El-Sayed making a questionable statement about his citizenship.
El-Sayed, who was born in Michigan in 1984 to Egyptian immigrants, made the remark in a speech to the party's Progressive Caucus on Feb. 11, 2017, two days after he launched a campaign for governor.
"I'm done with this notion that certain kinds of people cannot rise up to be a part of leadership in this society," he said at the convention, according to video footage obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
"We have an opportunity to rethink the way we do government," said El-Sayed, "despite the fact that I may be an immigrant from North Africa."
It's the most recent example of El-Sayed suggesting he is something other than a full-blown American-born citizen. El-Sayed stated on his academic résumé in 2014 that he had American and Egyptian citizenship, the Free Beacon reported. Two years later, in 2016, he told an audience in Detroit, where he served as city health director at the time, that he had "dual citizenship" in Egypt and the United States, the Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed's campaign said El-Sayed spoke in "error" after being misinformed by an unnamed relative that he was a citizen of Egypt and the United States. El-Sayed has "never" had dual citizenship, according to the campaign, which has declined to say when he learned of the mistake and who informed him of it.
El-Sayed has faced other questions about his family's homeland. His maternal relatives have "long been" involved in the Muslim Brotherhood, according to El-Sayed's half-sister, Eman Abdelhadi. Their mother, Fatten Elkomy, was active in the Brotherhood in college in Egypt in the 1970s, Abdelhadi said.
El-Sayed, in campaign trail speeches and interviews, has most often referred to himself as Egyptian-American and spoken of visiting his father's family in Alexandria, Egypt, during his childhood. He has also referred to himself as being of African descent, usually in speeches before black audiences.
El-Sayed offered brief support for Egypt's government when it was under control of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2012, El-Sayed joined an open letter that called on the Brotherhood to crack down on police and the media, the Free Beacon reported.
El-Sayed's campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
