CANTON — At a press conference Tuesday alongside a group of mothers from the Detroit area, U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell accused President Trump and the Republican Party of fueling Islamophobia for electoral gain.

The press conference was held at a preschool in Canton Township, where the congresswomen and members of Mothers Against Hate condemned anti-Muslim rhetoric, particularly in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.

The event came two days after Trump’s speech in Port Huron, where the Republican president escalated his attacks on El-Sayed, falsely describing him as a “jihadist and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood” and accusing him of advocating the imposition of Islamic law on the United States and wanting to tear up the U.S. Constitution.

“If he wins, he’ll be the only senator who goes through a metal detector before he’s allowed into the Senate… I want him to go through a metal detector,” Trump told supporters, urging Michigan voters to prevent El-Sayed from reaching the Capitol in Washington. If elected, El-Sayed would become the first Muslim member of the U.S. Senate.

“They have tried to weaponize religion, not only by attacking Abdul El-Sayed, but by targeting every Muslim as well,” Yvonne Lewis of Mothers Against Hate said, emphasizing that “this is not the America we know.”

Dingell said that while communities may disagree over policies and political positions, those disagreements should never involve targeting other people’s faith or race.

“I was raised by nuns who taught me never to hate anyone,” Dingell said. “Every person has the right to work, play, learn, shop and live without fear. When hate is directed at one community, it threatens everyone’s safety and dignity.”

Tlaib expressed frustration with hateful political advertisements airing during family programming, forcing viewers to change the channel.

“This is the reality of our daily lives: We have to turn off the radio or look away from our television screens while we are simply trying to enjoy a football game, a series or anything else,” Tlaib said.

Jewish American activist Sarah Glasser also spoke, emphasizing that antisemitism, racism and Islamophobia are interconnected.

“An attack on any one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said, pointing to candidates such as Mike Rogers and Trump as having embraced hateful rhetoric during this election cycle.

“When the discussion is about policy, a candidate presents his policy vision,” Glasser added. “But when the discussion targets a candidate’s name, his wife’s headscarf, his mother or his employer, it is no longer about policy. It has become an attack on his identity and who he is.”