From Viral Videos to FBI Raids: Why Dearborn Is Drawing National Attention
A closer look at viral videos, FBI terrorism arrests, political backlash, and the cultural tensions putting Dearborn in the national spotlight.
DEARBORN, Mich. – Before Minneapolis, YouTube reporter Nick Shirley walked through the city of Dearborn as Muslim men yelled, “Allahu Akbar.”
Shirley was in town in November, about six weeks before he would break the childcare fraud scandal in Minnesota that brought down Gov. Tim Walz.
“I have a question for you guys,” Shirley asked a young group of Arab men on the street harassing Christian marchers, one of whom had threatened to burn a Quran. “If America were to get in a war … with a country like Iraq, would you guys defend America or Iraq?”
A young Muslim man walked toward the camera and yelled, “We would defend our brothers in Iraq! That’s the only way!”
“So you would not defend America?” Shirley asked.
“We would not defend America!” the young Arab man yelled back. “I would go to jail instead of fighting for America.”
It was the type of click-bait reporting that triggers millions of views on social media. That video had 1.3 million views as of Jan. 11.
But there was more serious news involving Islam that came out of Dearborn: a terrorist plot.
The FBI busted up what it has claimed was a terrorist ring planning a mass-casualty attack on Halloween. Suspects were arrested from coast-to-coast in the FBI investigation, with five Muslim males from Dearborn charged.
Dearborn came under the microscope of national attention back in September when Muslim Mayor Abdullah Hammoud told a Christian minister:
“You are an Islamophobe, and although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here,” Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said at a city council meeting. “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.”
That triggered a national response.
Conservative influencers such as Mellissa Carone showed up in Dearborn and brought attention that Dearborn has a call-to-prayer five times a day, as early as 5:30 a.m. The call-to-prayer has been going on in Dearborn since at least the 1970s.
Conservative podcaster Matt Walsh criticized the mayor and added, “Dearborn has become essentially an Arab state.”
Conservative rocker Ted Nugent said he wanted to play his song Wang Dang Sweet Poontang to drown out the call-to-prayer.
There were other controversial moments.
Last fall, a video surfaced of city of Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin, a Muslim, speaking at a conference and boasting that he has increased the number of Arab Americans on his force from 3% to 45%.
He said the city was better served with more Arab American officers and ended by reciting a Muslim prayer.
Prominent Muslims said the city is being unfairly targeted and is a victim of online misinformation.
In November 2025, a person with the X handle “BelannF,” a self-proclaimed MAGA follower who has nearly 133k followers, posted about the government “paying Muslim women to have babies.”
“THIS IS HOW THE MUSLIMS INTEND TO OUT POPULATE US - Are you paying attention - They are paying Muslim women to have babies. The GREAT Replacement is here - Are they using Federal money? Dearborn, Michigan the city’s Muslim mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, announces the ‘RX Kids’ program which will pay mothers $4,500 for EVERY BABY they have… mind you, Dearborn, Michigan is 55% Middle Eastern Muslim, and a goal in Islam is a minimum of 5 children.”
However, Rx Kids is offered not just to Dearborn, but 28 other cities and counties in Michigan, including Detroit, Inkster, Benton Harbor, Niles, Pontiac and Flint.
In August of 2025, the grassroots journalism site RAIR Foundation USA posted a headline that read: Sharia Arrest in Dearborn: Non-Muslim Jailed for Facebook Post While Islamic Death Chants Go Unpunished.
Sharia law is the Islamic religious law based in part on the Quran.
Anthony James of Garden City was arrested within five hours after he posted on Facebook, “Someone should show up and let a couple of clips out.”
At the time, there was a Muslim event “March for Justice” in Dearborn that drew 40,000 people.
James violated state law, not Sharia.
“We don’t let those who preach hate define Dearborn,” Nasser Beydoun, a Muslim business executive and politician said in a Nov. 20, 2025 post on X. “The irony? They walk past a manger, a liquor store, a bar, and even a topless club – and still claim we’re under Sharia law. The truth is: Dearborn is a diverse, proud and welcoming community. And no outsider gets to rewrite that.”
Dearborn’s Mayor Hammoud said he was opposed to a melting pot approach that for a century defined differing cultures all assimilating into one.
“I actually disavow the use of the term a melting pot,” Hammoud said in a late October podcast. “I actually don’t like it. Because in a melting pot we talk about a soup. Everything looks the same. We’re the salad bowl. The lettuce is lettuce. The tomato is the tomato. The cucumber is the cucumber. And they all complement each other. Here in the city, we celebrate the unique cultures that we have.”
In nearby Dearborn Heights, where 41% of households speak a language other than English, Muslim businessman Sam Hussein helped cover the $10,000 cost for that city to have a Christmas tree on display for an event.
The original Christmas tree ordered by the city had been delayed.
But critics say there are disturbing incidents that arise from Dearborn that raise concerns.
Some prominent Muslim leaders in Dearborn have made statements considered to be supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah, two organizations designated as terrorists by the United States government.
The Middle East Media Research Institute is a pro-Jewish watchdog that tracks comments made by Muslim leaders.
It said that Osama Siblani, a Dearborn Muslim who publishes The Arab American News, was openly supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah.
A section of a street in Dearborn was named in honor of Siblani in 2025.
Amer Zahr, a school board member for Dearborn’s public school district, is a comedian who made news in December when he said he was detained by Israeli police for telling jokes.
Zahr has joked about the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre, that according to the Israel Defense Forces, killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took 251 hostages.
In addition, Zahr supported people linked to terrorist attacks and organizations designated as terrorists by the U.S. government, according to videos posted on his social media that were tracked by the Middle East Forum, a pro-Israel watchdog.
Support for Hamas and Hezbollah is not aligned with American views.
A Pew Research Center poll in October showed that 84% of Americans held an unfavorable viewpoint of Hamas.
“I think Dearborn ended up in the spotlight because of a growing sense that Islamist attitudes of supremacy and entitlement will have a negative impact on the lives of non-Muslims in even the U.S.,” said Dexter Van Zile, a research fellow who works for the pro-Israel Middle East Forum.
“People are seeing what has happened in places like France and England where unchecked immigration from Muslim-majority countries has really undermined the status of women and the ability of non-Muslims to live their lives in peace. People are afraid because they realize that something has interrupted the process of assimilation that used to take place in the United States.”
In February 2024, Middle East Media Research Institute Executive Director Steven Stalinsky wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with the headline: Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital.
Stalinsky was criticized by several journalists and Democratic politicians.
Then President Joe Biden even responded on X, writing:
“Americans know that blaming a group of people based on the words of a small few is wrong. That’s exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town.”
Hammoud later joked a year later on a podcast about the Wall Street Journal op-ed.
“The funny idea I had was to go and name everyone ‘Jihad,’” the mayor said during that podcast. “‘Hi, my name is Jihad.’ And just put that in the video. ‘We are Jihad.’ I thought that would be funny.”
However, a few days later, the FBI announced it had thwarted an alleged Halloween terrorism attack.
The mayor of Dearborn, city of Dearborn and three of the mosques as well as the Hadi Institute all have not responded to numerous emails seeking comment.
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