Drive along Michigan Avenue, just west of Detroit, and Middle Eastern culture is undeniable. The city of Dearborn’s main thoroughfare is filled with businesses featuring Arabic-script signs and ethnic-rich cuisine. The city boasts 10 mosques within the city limits, including the largest of its kind in North America, according to an online directory.
And while the city’s landscape seemingly reflects a municipality with a majority Arab population (54.5%), a federal lawsuit filed Sept. 17 alleges that the Muslim-majority city council spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on public displays celebrating Muslim holidays while ignoring a Christian resident’s repeated requests for Easter and Passover recognition.
Margot Cleveland, a journalist with The Federalist, has filed a civil rights lawsuit with the American Freedom Law Center (AFLC) against the city of Dearborn and Democratic Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, accusing the city of violating her First and 14th Amendment rights, including protections involving religious establishment, free speech and equal protection.
“The City of Dearborn spent taxpayer money to light up its streets and parks for Ramadan while stonewalling a resident who simply asked that Easter, Passover, and other Christian and Jewish holy days be treated the same way,” Robert J. Muise, AFLC co-founder and senior counsel, said in a statement. “That is a straightforward Establishment Clause violation, and the retaliation our client faced for speaking up about it only compounds the constitutional harm.”
Home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the country, Dearborn reported 109,976 residents in the 2020 Census, and nearly 55% represented Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. Hammoud was elected mayor in November 2021, becoming the first Muslim and Arab American to lead the city of Dearborn.
“What makes this case especially troubling is that City officials, up to and including the Mayor, responded to a citizen’s respectful request for equal treatment with silence, stonewalling, and outright hostility—including the Mayor’s own words telling a Christian resident he is ‘not welcome’ in his own city,” David Yerushalmi, an attorney on the case, said. “Our client is simply asking the City to treat Christians and Jews as equal citizens.”
Attorneys for Cleveland cite a September 2025 encounter between Hammoud and Christian pastor Ted Barham as evidence of what they allege is the city’s hostility toward Christians. Barham had raised concerns during a City Council meeting over the city’s decision to rename a street after Usama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, who has made statements expressing support for Hezbollah.
In the exchange, Hammoud called Barham a “bigot” and an “Islamophobe.”
“And although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Hammoud told the Christian pastor. “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… because you are not somebody who believes in coexistence.”
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s lawsuit alleges that city leaders ignored her requests for the city to also acknowledge Christian and Jewish holidays after she began seeing “Ramadan Kareem” banners and large crescent moons displayed across the city in spring 2025.
A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that the city had spent $1,500 on Ramadan banners and $5,000 on the crescent-moon display. The Dearborn Police Department was also selling Ramadan-themed T-shirts.
In emails to the city, Cleveland said she did not want the city to stop celebrating Muslim holidays but wanted equal recognition for Christian and Jewish holy days. “I much prefer to ensure equality of faith traditions, as opposed to a challenge to the display,” Cleveland wrote in an email.
The lawsuit also alleges that in February 2026, the city expanded its Ramadan displays, commissioning crescent-and-star lights for municipal streetlights across the city.
“This initiative reflects who we are as a city,” Hammoud said in a statement.
Tensions between Cleveland and city officials increased in April, when Cleveland alleges she was told she could attend a community meeting as a resident but not as a journalist. The lawsuit alleges that Hammoud made a “snide comment” about residents who criticize the city on social media to monetize their posts.
Cleveland pushed back, according to the lawsuit, saying she was simply “a concerned resident who was ignored when I asked for the City to treat Christians and Jews equally.”
“Despite the repeated requests, they treated her as if she were an outsider and not a full member of the political community,” Muise told Fox News Digital.
Biblical passages to ponder: John 14:6, Exodus 20:2-5, Jeremiah 14:21-22
