State of Michigan

Race and ethnicity

As of 2007, about 300,000 people in Southeastern Michigan trace their descent from the Middle East and Asia. Dearborn has a sizeable Arab American community, with many Assyrians, and Lebanese who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s, along with more recent Yemenis and Iraqis. Dearborn also houses an Armenian minority population, initially consisting of entirely young men. There is a statue of Komitas, an Armenian priest and composer, standing on Jefferson Avenue, in Detroit. As of 2007, almost 8,000 Hmong people lived in the state of Michigan, about double their 1999 presence in the state. Most lived in northeastern Detroit, but they had been increasingly moving to Pontiac and Warren. By 2015, the number of Hmong in the Detroit city limits had significantly declined. Lansing hosts a statewide Hmong New Year Festival. The Hmong community also had a prominent portrayal in the 2008 film Gran Torino, which was set in Detroit.