Dearborn, Mayor Hammoud Face Federal Bias Suit Over $6,500 Muslim Holiday Displays
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 18
Dearborn, Mayor Hammoud Face Federal Bias Suit Over $6,500 Muslim Holiday Displays
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 18
Summary
A federal civil-rights lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Dearborn and Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of favoring Islam by funding Ramadan displays while denying a resident’s requests to recognize Easter and Passover.
FOIA records cited in the complaint show the city spent $1,500 on Ramadan banners and $5,000 on a crescent-moon display, then expanded the program in February 2026 with crescent-and-star streetlight decorations.
Margot Cleveland says she asked for equal treatment rather than removal of Muslim displays, but the suit alleges city officials ignored her, limited her role at an April community meeting, and retaliated after she spoke up.
Lawyers also point to a 2025 clash in which Hammoud told Christian pastor Ted Barham he was "not welcome" in Dearborn, using it to support claims of hostility toward Christian critics.
The case lands in a city led since 2021 by Dearborn’s first Muslim and Arab American mayor and amid a Michigan Senate race where religion and anti-Muslim bias are already flashpoints.