DEARBORN, Mich. — Landing on the government's terror watch list has become so common in this Detroit suburb that Osama Siblani, a publisher who immigrated from Lebanon in 1976 and wears a polo shirt and jeans at work, thumbs through his speed dial list recalling the stories.

No one’s told why they’re on it, and only the wealthy can afford a lawyer to get off it, says Siblani. The list includes a man paralyzed from the neck down and small business owners flagged for returning home to visit family.

On the city’s south side, Rasheed Alnozili, publisher of the Yemeni American newspaper, says many U.S.-born kids with Yemeni parents believe they’re not citizens. Meanwhile, some professionals with young families contemplate life in Canada.

This is a snapshot of life for many Arab and Muslim Americans here — and they want you to know it’s been like this since before President Donald Trump took office.

Editor and publisher of the 'The Arab American News' newspaper Osama Siblani in Dearborn, Michigan. Rebecca Cook / Reuters file

But Trump’s ascent appears to be hastening this population's coming of age politically.

American Arabs and Muslims are stepping up to run for public office in record numbers, registering to vote and bundling money for candidates from their community, according to Jetpac, a nonprofit working to increase American Muslim civic engagement.

With inflammatory rhetoric on immigration and his active push for a travel ban aimed primarily at Muslim-majority countries, Trump has put a national spotlight on the community’s long-running travails. Trump has called for the monitoring of mosques and appointed Cabinet members and political advisers who have disparaged Muslims.

He’s also likely put the final nail in the coffin for the community’s waning support for the GOP, political experts say.

"Donald Trump did us more than one favor," says Siblani, who launched George W. Bush’s campaign in Dearborn and hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since.

"First, he uncovered the animosity and discrimination and hate against foreigners and, particularly, Muslims. But he also pushed the Democrats to go and look and search for us," he says.

"We’re paying heavily, and now it’s coming to the surface," said Abdulhakem Alsadah, president of the National Association of Yemeni Americans. He says thousands of U.S. citizens or legal residents can’t get home because there is no diplomatic presence in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen — while other families are permanently separated because of the travel ban.

"Our story is Americans and our families. This is the story that’s never been told," Alsadah said over a traditional meal at Al Nawras restaurant, a small business epitomizing the American dream.

It was started by Mohammed Abu Sinan, once a dishwasher who now owns five restaurants.

Michigan is home to the nation’s largest Muslim-American population and a state Trump narrowly carried in 2016, winning by just over 11,000 votes. And experts say his presidency has likely cemented a permanent shift away from the GOP for younger Muslims in particular.

Rashida Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants and a Democrat who won the primary to succeed the area’s retiring Democratic Rep. John Conyers, symbolizes the community’s political rise.

While she will be the first Muslim woman to serve in Congress, she ran on an agenda that emphasized core progressive issues, not race, including poverty and getting corporate money out of politics.