1. Rashida Harbi Tlaib is an American lawyer and politician serving as a US representative from Michigan since 2019, representing the state's 12th congressional district since 2023.
57 Facts About Rashida Tlaib
1. 2.
Rashida Tlaib graduated from Southwestern High School in Detroit in 1994, from Wayne State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1998, and from Thomas M Cooley Law School with a Juris Doctor in 2004.
3.
Rashida Tlaib was admitted to the bar in the state of Michigan in 2007.
4.
Rashida Tlaib began her political career in 2004 when she interned with State Representative Steve Tobocman, who hired her to his staff when he became majority floor leader in 2007, and encouraged her to run for his seat the next year.
5.
Rashida Tlaib represented the 6th and 12th districts in the Michigan House of Representatives.
6.
Rashida Tlaib was the first Muslim woman to serve in Michigan's legislature.
7.
Rashida Tlaib is a member of The Squad, an informal group of US representatives on the left wing of the Democratic Party.
8.
Rashida Tlaib has argued in favor of abolishing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
9.
Rashida Tlaib voted to impeach President Donald Trump in both 2019 and 2021.
10.
Rashida Tlaib is sharply critical of Israel, viewing it as an apartheid state.
11.
On November 7,2023, Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of Representatives in response to her public statements following the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
12.
Rashida Tlaib Harbi was born in Detroit on July 24,1976, the eldest of 14 children born to working-class Palestinian immigrants.
13.
Rashida Tlaib's mother was born in Beit Ur El Foka, near the West Bank city of Ramallah.
14.
Rashida Tlaib's father was born in Beit Hanina, a neighborhood in East Jerusalem.
15.
Rashida Tlaib worked on an assembly line in a Ford Motor Company plant.
16.
Rashida Tlaib attended elementary school at Harms, Bennett Elementary, and Phoenix Academy.
17.
Rashida Tlaib graduated from Southwestern High School in Detroit in 1994.
18.
Rashida Tlaib was admitted to the bar in the state of Michigan in 2007.
19.
Rashida Tlaib began her political career in 2004 when she interned with State Representative Steve Tobocman.
20.
In 2008 Tobocman encouraged Rashida Tlaib to run for his seat, which he was vacating due to term limits.
21.
Rashida Tlaib faced a crowded primary that included several Latinos, including former State Representative Belda Garza.
22.
In 2010, Rashida Tlaib faced a primary election challenge from Jim Czachorowski in his first bid for office.
23.
In 2012, Rashida Tlaib won reelection to the Michigan House in the newly redrawn 6th district.
24.
Rashida Tlaib is the first Muslim woman to serve as a member of the Michigan State Legislature.
25.
Rashida Tlaib is the second Muslim woman to serve in a state legislature nationwide.
26.
In 2018, Rashida Tlaib announced her candidacy for the US House of Representatives in Michigan's 13th congressional district.
27.
Rashida Tlaib filed in both the Democratic primary in the special election for the balance of Conyers's 27th term and in the general election for a full two-year term.
28.
Rashida Tlaib faced no major-party opposition in the November 2018 general election, although Brenda Jones mounted an eleventh-hour write-in bid.
29.
On Election Day, Rashida Tlaib became the first Palestinian-American woman to be elected to Congress.
30.
In 2022, following redistricting, Rashida Tlaib sought reelection in Michigan's newly drawn 12th congressional district.
31.
Rashida Tlaib took the congressional oath of office on January 3,2019, swearing in on an English-language translation of the Quran.
32.
Rashida Tlaib wore a thawb, a traditional embroidered Arab dress, to the swearing-in ceremony.
33.
The next day, Israeli authorities granted a request by Rashida Tlaib to visit her relatives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on humanitarian grounds and under certain restrictions on political statements.
34.
Rashida Tlaib declined to go, saying that she did not want to make the trip "under these oppressive conditions".
35.
The Israeli interior ministry stated that Rashida Tlaib had previously agreed to abide by any rules their government had set in exchange for being permitted to visit the country, and accused her of making a "provocative request aimed at bashing the State of Israel".
36.
On November 14,2019, the House Ethics Committee announced that it was investigating whether Rashida Tlaib used congressional campaign money for personal expenses in violation of House rules.
37.
Rashida Tlaib called the resolution "deeply Islamophobic" and said it attacked "peaceful Jewish anti-war advocates".
38.
Rashida Tlaib said the proposed censure resolutions distorted her positions and were "filled with obvious lies".
39.
Rashida Tlaib added that she had "repeatedly denounced the horrific targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government" and that she supported a ceasefire to end the conflict.
40.
Rashida Tlaib has said she opposes providing aid to a "Netanyahu Israel" and supported the Palestinian right of return and a one-state solution.
41.
Rashida Tlaib is one of the few members of Congress to openly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Israeli government.
42.
Rashida Tlaib has defended her support of the boycott on free speech grounds and as a response to Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and settlement building, which the international community considers illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
43.
In January 2019, Rashida Tlaib criticized anti-BDS legislation proposed by Senators Marco Rubio and Jim Risch.
44.
Rashida Tlaib argued that boycotting is a right and that Rubio and Risch "forgot what country they represent".
45.
Rashida Tlaib was one of 17 members of Congress to vote against a July 2019 House resolution condemning the BDS movement, which passed by a margin of 381 votes.
46.
Rashida Tlaib suggested boycotting HBO host Bill Maher after he denounced the BDS movement.
47.
On September 23,2021, Rashida Tlaib called Israel an "apartheid state" on the House floor during a debate over funding for Israel's "Iron Dome" air defense system; Representative Ted Deutch responded by accusing Rashida Tlaib of antisemitism.
48.
In 2022 and 2023, Rashida Tlaib introduced resolutions aimed at recognizing the Nakba that stated that "a just and lasting peace cannot be established without addressing the Nakba and remedying its injustices towards the Palestinian people" and endorsed the Palestinian right of return.
49.
Rashida Tlaib responded the criticism by noting that organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had concluded that Israel has imposed a system of apartheid on Palestinians.
50.
Rashida Tlaib's statement was condemned by two representatives and the Israeli ambassador to the US Tlaib repeatedly condemned Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.
51.
Rashida Tlaib criticized the United States' support for Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip that killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and accused President Biden of supporting the alleged genocide of the Palestinian people.
52.
Rashida Tlaib has criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights violations and the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.
53.
Rashida Tlaib condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling it an "unjustifiable violation of international law", and has called for sanctions on Russia following the invasion.
54.
Rashida Tlaib has voted multiple times to provide Ukraine with support following the invasion.
55.
Rashida Tlaib was endorsed by the abortion rights organization NARAL.
56.
Rashida Tlaib was an early supporter of the movement to abolish the Immigration Customs Enforcement agency.
57.
In September 2018, The New York Times reported that Rashida Tlaib walked into her family's mosque to express her gratitude for the opportunity to run for Congress, articulating a belief that "my Allah is She".