DEARBORN — Ahead of an anti-Muslim demonstration organized by a far-right activist, the city of Dearborn took a series of security and preventive measures designed to protect public safety and deny outside agitators an opportunity to inflame religious and ethnic divisions.

Jake Lang announced plans to return to Dearborn for a fifth time under the slogan “Stop the Islamification of America.” He threatened to burn copies of the Quran and hold a pork barbecue with what he claimed would be “thousands of bikers” outside the August 18 City Council meeting. His claims about the size of the planned gathering were not independently verified.

City officials moved the meeting from the Dearborn Administrative Center to the nearby Henry Ford Centennial Library, whose grounds include an area designated for public expression. The relocation allowed police to better manage pedestrian and vehicle traffic, establish security zones and accommodate a larger law enforcement presence.

Police Chief Issa Shahin requested assistance from the Michigan State Police and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office as part of the city’s security preparations.

The city also held a news conference featuring Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, Shahin and local Christian clergy, who emphasized community unity and urged residents not to engage with demonstrators seeking to provoke confrontations.

Officials urge residents not to engage

In a widely circulated video, Shahin asked residents to ignore the visiting agitators and avoid the demonstration area unless they had official business before the City Council.

“Please stay home,” Shahin said. “These groups are coming into our city for one purpose: to provoke a reaction and attract attention.”

Shahin said denying the demonstrators an audience would prevent them from obtaining the confrontational footage and publicity they were seeking.

“The most powerful thing our community can do is ignore them and refuse to give them the attention they want,” he said. “Do not argue with them, do not confront them and do not give them the reaction or the footage they are looking for.”

The most powerful thing our community can do is ignore them and refuse to give them the attention they want. — Police Chief Issa Shahin

Residents with official business before the City Council were encouraged to attend as usual, Shahin added. However, those considering going solely to confront the demonstrators were urged to stay away for their own safety.

Numerous elected officials, community organizations and local leaders joined the call, including City Council President Mike Sareini, The Arab American News, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) and the American Human Rights Council (AHRC).

They urged residents not to allow isolated confrontations to be selectively edited and circulated online to smear Dearborn or promote the false claim that the city is governed by Islamic law.

Whitmer condemns anti-Muslim hate

Gov. Whitmer also expressed solidarity with Dearborn and urged residents not to confront the demonstrators.

“Dearborn is home to one of the most vibrant communities in America,” Whitmer said in a statement issued ahead of the demonstration. “Its residents are our friends and our neighbors.”

Whitmer said the agitators were traveling to Dearborn for the sole purpose of intimidating the community and provoking a reaction.

“Their plan emboldens and contributes to dangerous behavior, and I am asking every person of good will to denounce it,” she said. “Their hate has no place in Michigan.”

Whitmer said protecting Michigan residents remained her highest priority and confirmed that she had spoken with Hammoud about the planned demonstration.

“I echo Chief Shahin and local officials: Do not confront or engage with demonstrators,” she said. “Together, we stand united against hate in all its forms.”

Their hate has no place in Michigan. — Gov. Whitmer

Police outline security plan

At Monday’s news conference at Dearborn police headquarters, Shahin said his department had worked around the clock with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to protect residents and property.

He emphasized that police decisions would be based on conduct and compliance with the law — not demonstrators’ views or the content of their speech.

“We protect everyone’s right to express their views, even when the content is offensive to our community,” Shahin said. “But we will never tolerate a lawful gathering being transformed into a threat to public safety.”

Anyone who assaults another person, blocks emergency routes or damages property would be immediately arrested under Michigan law, he added.

Shahin renewed his request that residents avoid the demonstration area unless they had business before the City Council, saying an empty audience would be “the worst possible outcome for people looking to manufacture confrontations in front of cameras.”

Christian clergy stand with Dearborn

The Rev. Bob McCabe, pastor of the Church of the Divine Child, spoke about his close ties to Dearborn and described the city as an ideal place to raise a family.

McCabe said Dearborn’s diverse and closely connected social fabric allows people to live safely and practice their respective faiths freely.

Responding to the disruption caused by outside agitators, McCabe urged residents to hold firmly to their religious and moral values and move “from intolerance to tolerance, from tolerance to respect and from respect to love.”

Dearborn, he said, embodies those principles.

Pastor Nathan Hayes of Solid Rock Church also emphasized the Biblical command to “love your neighbor.” Drawing on the parable of the Good Samaritan, he said a neighbor is anyone who shows mercy to others, regardless of differences in appearance, religion or background.

Hayes spoke about raising his four children in Dearborn, where they attended school alongside Muslim and Christian classmates. That experience, he said, demonstrated that coexistence in the city is not an abstract ideal, but an everyday reality.

He said the outside demonstrators were motivated less by religious values than by a desire for attention and political gain.

“I’m asking that our community come together and ignore the outside voices,” Hayes said. “Pay attention to the person who lives next to you, because they care about you far more than people driving in from somewhere else.”

Hayes expressed affection and respect for all Dearborn residents — Christians, Muslims, followers of other religions and those with no religious affiliation — and urged them to support their neighbors and strengthen mutual understanding.

Chaplain Rick Neveu of St. Kateri Tekakwitha Catholic Church reinforced that message, saying the Biblical command to “love your neighbor” includes no conditions based on race or religion.

Dearborn demonstrates that principle in practice, Neveu said, through cooperation among residents of different faiths around shared community concerns.

He also praised the meetings Hammoud and Shahin hold twice a year with representatives of different religious communities to discuss city affairs and strengthen security at houses of worship.

Inflammatory rhetoric intended to damage Dearborn’s reputation, Neveu said, repeatedly comes from individuals outside the city.

“A city that welcomes everybody”

Hammoud questioned why Dearborn is repeatedly targeted in national media and political campaigns, arguing that the city’s commitment to welcoming people of all backgrounds challenges a narrow vision of American identity.

“Dearborn welcomes everybody, and to so many, that is a challenge to the perspective of America that they believe in,” Hammoud said.

Dearborn welcomes everybody, and to so many, that is a challenge to the perspective of America that they believe in. — Mayor Abdullah Hammoud

He said some critics cannot accept that a city can be ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse while remaining thoroughly American.

Dearborn has historically served as a home for successive immigrant communities, including Italian, Irish, Polish, Palestinian, Lebanese and Yemeni Americans. Today, the city contains nearly 30 Christian churches and more than a dozen mosques.

Hammoud described the inflammatory narratives spread through traditional and social media as “political theater” intended to generate attention, profit and political advantage.

He said Dearborn rejects hatred and is distinguished by an extraordinary sense of neighborliness.

Quoting a Quranic verse stating that humanity was created as “peoples and tribes so that you may know one another,” Hammoud said the city does not judge residents by the religious books they follow, but by their character, values and kindness.

He encouraged residents to continue their daily lives, support local businesses and visit their favorite restaurants rather than allow outside agitators to disrupt the community.

Hammoud described how Dearborn neighbors pass food over backyard fences and share one another’s celebrations and sorrows regardless of religious affiliation. He advised residents not to change their routines or be distracted by the loud voices of outsiders.

The mayor also recalled a painful experience from his childhood after the September 11, 2001, attacks, when a man pointed a gun at him when he was 11-years-old.

Hammoud said the incident did not prevent him from taking pride in his identity and his name, Abdullah Hussein Hammoud, as an American. Attempts to spread fear and division would similarly fail, he said, and Dearborn’s neighborhoods and houses of worship would remain safe because of residents’ wisdom and the professionalism of the city’s police officers.

Responding to questions from reporters, Hammoud said anti-Muslim and anti-Arab rhetoric routinely intensifies during election cycles, particularly when Muslim candidates seek public office. Some politicians, he said, exploit religious and ethnic divisions to advance their campaigns and frighten voters.

Hammoud also recalled an earlier anti-Muslim protester who traveled to Dearborn with hostile views but changed his perspective after personally experiencing the warmth and hospitality of the community.

He encouraged visitors to experience Dearborn for themselves and recognize the distinction between legitimately exercising free speech and deliberately using inflammatory rhetoric to incite confrontation.