\n Egyptian-American Democrat Abdel Rahman El-Sayed says his family\u2019s migration shaped his political outlook as he criticises Egypt\u2019s lack of democracy. [Getty]<\/p>\n
Michigan’s US Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed <\/a>criticised\u00a0Egypt\u2019s lack of democracy<\/a>\u00a0on Friday, saying he does not want US taxpayer money to be used to impose a \u201cstrangling grip\u201d on Egyptians.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Egyptian-American\u00a0politician, who won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, reflected on his parents\u2019 immigration to the United States and how it transformed the course of his life.\u00a0<\/p>\n El-Sayed said his father\u2019s move to Detroit to study at Wayne State University created opportunities that would otherwise have been unavailable to him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He explained that his parents\u2019 ability to study and work in the US had\u00a0ultimately shaped\u00a0the stark difference between the life he leads today and the one he might have experienced had he been born in Egypt, Arabi21 reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n “My family comes from a country where there is no democracy, and I don’t want to see my tax dollars used to impose a strangling grip on the Egyptian people,” El-Sayed said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He added: “If it\u00a0weren’t\u00a0for that historical coincidence that allowed my father to immigrate to Detroit to study at Wayne State University, I would be a taxi driver in Egypt like my cousins. The only difference is that I was born in the United States.”<\/p>\n El-Sayed also recalled spending much of his childhood visiting Egypt during the summer holidays, saying: \u201cI spent a large part of my childhood summer vacations in Egypt, and there I saw up close what my life could have been.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He said being born in the US gave him access to healthcare and educational opportunities that were not necessarily available to other members of his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was born in the United States, where I received vaccinations against diseases that killed my aunt and uncle before they turned one, and therefore I never had the chance to meet them,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n