At a city council meeting in September 2025, Dearborn mayor Abdullah Hammoud had a lot to say to Ted Barham, a local Christian who objected to a street being named after Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News.
Barham argued that past statements made by Siblani expressed sympathy for groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
"You are a bigot, and you are a racist," the mayor responded. "You are an Islamophobe, and although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here. 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."
Last week, amid a series of anti-Islam protests in Dearborn, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church in Detroit addressed the Dearborn City Council about the increasing influence of Islam there.
"You are not up under American law," he said after asking each council member to renounce Sharia law. "You are up under Sharia law. You are three generations of racism in this very city."
Dearborn's estimated Muslim population of roughly 55,000 people makes up about 55% of the city's total population. It began to grow significantly in the 1920s when automotive pioneer Henry Ford opened his massive River Rouge Complex, and wars in the Middle East led to further waves of refugees.
Sewell (pictured left) said the Muslims now in the region disdain Western culture and Americans in general.
"You spit on us. You degrade us," he said. "But you're only 1% of this nation. We are not a nation of Muslims; we are a nation of Christians. We are one nation under God, indivisible, the God of the Bible, the God of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Others in attendance cheered.
The city officials pushed back on the claims, with Mayor Hammoud saying such portrayals amount to broader attacks on the community.
"When people portray Dearborn as some place that has been overtaken by Muslims, they aren't simply attacking our Muslim and Arab communities. They're also trying to erase our Christian brothers and sisters who have contributed immeasurably to the city," Hammoud said, refraining from the kind of slanderous attack he had previously leveled against Barham, who still lives in the city that he calls "the Middle Eastern capital of America."
Critics and outside activists have argued that leaders in Dearborn show favoritism or preference toward Muslim and Arab American residents by allowing cultural or religious influences to shape local civic life, but Mayor Hammoud and local police maintain that civil and criminal rules are enforced equally for all residents.
