A lawsuit has been filed charging officials in Dearborn, Michigan, with establishing Islam as a religion to be favored above all others, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
A report at the Federalist confirms that the action was brought by the American Freedom Law Center on behalf of Dearborn resident and Federalist Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland.
“The lawsuit alleges that City officials spent public funds and used City property to promote and celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan while refusing Cleveland’s repeated requests that the City extend the same recognition to Christian and Jewish holidays — and that Mayor [Abdullah] Hammoud and other City officials retaliated against Cleveland for speaking out about the disparity,” the AFLC charges.
The complaint accuses the city of spending public funds for years to commemorate Islamic holidays but not the holidays of other religions such as Christianity and Judaism. It says AFLC and Cleveland have made numerous requests, by email and at city council meetings, that the city give equal treatment to religions with public funds and avoid a lawsuit, explains the report.
The case is charging that Hammoud directed the city attorney to tell council members to refuse to respond.
“I don’t have a problem with people of faith exercising their deeply held beliefs,” Cleveland said. “I have a problem with people supporting or excusing terrorism and antisemitism and establishing a religion and discriminating against people of other faiths.”
Her call is for the city to comply with the Constitution and treat all religious expression equally.
🚨🚨🚨BREAKING: This @aflc_freedomlaw filed suit on my behalf against the City of Dearborn and Mayor @AHammoudMI for violating my First Amendment Rights. 1/ pic.twitter.com/ckRwVqtP8H
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) September 17, 2026
🚨 WOW! This Christian pastor walked up and WENT BERSERK on Muslim Dearborn MI City Councilmembers trying to push Sharia Law
“You’re only ONE PERCENT OF THIS NATION! We are NOT a nation of Muslims, we are a nation of CHRISTIANS! We are one nation under GOD!”
“YOU are up under… pic.twitter.com/kQGUeL3i6M
— War Correspondent (@warDaniel47) September 15, 2026
You will never see a Non-Muslim get elected to be the mayor in Dearborn Michigan ever again.
And that’s everything you need to know about Islam, they came to take over and replace, city by city, state by state.
When they take the power, they never give it back. pic.twitter.com/wqbzlZssgX
— Bob (@Shariakill) September 14, 2026
The city of Dearborn long has been known as an Islamic enclave in America. Massive migration of Muslims into the city have installed what essentially is a Muslim-controlled government there. There have been blowups in recent months and years where police officers wanted to wear Islamic emblems on their uniforms, and a city official exploded at a Christian, telling him he was not welcome in the city.
“The complaint says Dearborn used public funds to pay for banners on public property celebrating Ramadan, crescent lights on city light poles for Ramadan the next year, a large, lighted crescent moon to celebrate Ramadan in a public park, and police department T-shirts to commemorate Ramadan. The complaint alleges the city has taken no comparable actions to celebrate the holidays of other faiths, such as Easter or Passover,” the report charged.
It was just last year that Hammoud told a constituent, a Christian pastor, he was a “bigot” and “Islamophobe,” for objecting to the city naming a street after Osama Siblani, a longtime supporter of groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, which are designated terror groups.
Hammoud blasted the Christian, with, “And the day you move out of the city will be the day that I launch a parade celebrating the fact that you moved out of the city.”
The complaint even notes federal courts “have recognized a pattern of Dearborn preferencing Islam over other religions, in violation of U.S. law. In 2011, the 6th Circuit ruled that Dearborn violated free speech and religious exercise by banning a pastor from sharing Christian pamphlets at the city’s Arab festival. In 2013, the city paid $300,000 to resolve similar claims after police arrested Christians for talking about Jesus at the same festival. In 2015, the 6th Circuit again ruled that local government had unlawfully removed Christians from preaching to a ‘hostile’ crowd at the Arab festival, violating their freedom of speech. In that case the surrounding county paid $200,000 in attorneys’ fees to AFLC for enforcing what the en banc court judged was an impermissible heckler’s veto,” the report said.
The action seeks a declaration that Dearborn violated Cleveland’s “clearly established constitutional rights as set forth in this Complaint; an injunction enjoining Defendants’ acts, customs, policies, practices, and procedures that favor Muslims and discriminate against Christians and Jews as set forth in this Complaint; nominal damages; and an award of costs and attorneys’ fees.”
Dearborn became the first majority-Arab U.S. city several years ago and three of the current city council members and the mayor are publicly declared Muslims.
