In Dearborn, Michigan, far-right nationalists and agitators recently staged an anti-Islam demonstration, attempting to burn the Quran and provoke controversy around the city’s large Arab American community. Local authorities dismissed the spectacle as a cheap bid for attention designed to drive traffic for hard-right influencers. There is little doubt, however, that the city has become a routine target for publicity-seeking radicals—Dearborn has the highest share of Arab American residents in the United States. Earlier, provocateurs marched with a pig’s head mounted on a pole at an Arab American festival, and Christian evangelicals have routinely tried to convert Muslim children in parks or near schools.
The latest group of Trump-aligned influencers appears emboldened by the anti-Muslim sentiment that has marked much of the second presidential term. Prominent conservative activists, including Cam Higby, Jake Lang and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, joined a November 18 rally: some shouted racist slurs, others unfurled a banner reading “Americans Against Islamification,” and one person struck a Quran with a piece of bacon. Lang later went to a city council meeting—where Arab Americans form a majority—and shouted live on air at council members, “Get the hell out of my country. We don’t want you here.” Over the course of the day, the influencers amassed hundreds of thousands of views on social media, while Lang simultaneously promoted his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from Florida.
According to CAIR-Michigan director Dawud Walid, the purpose of such actions is to “monetize” hatred through donations and views. He noted, “Anti-Muslim bigotry is the only form of open intolerance in America that is considered acceptable and can generate financial profit.” Walid stressed that hostility toward Muslims turns into clicks and revenue, meaning this is not merely a matter of prejudice—“hatred of Muslims yields financial returns.”
Dearborn—a suburb of Detroit with a population of roughly 110,000—is about 55% Arab American, largely families from Yemen and Lebanon who settled there decades ago, often drawn by jobs in the auto industry. The city has traditionally backed Democrats, yet in the most recent election Trump carried it by about 4%, amid deep frustration over the Biden administration’s stance on the genocide in Gaza. Some former Biden supporters voted for Trump, others backed Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and some did not vote at all.
The latest surge in tension followed a September incident in which Dearborn’s mayor, Abdullah Hammoud, told right-wing activist and pastor Ted Barham—who previously lived in the United Kingdom and Canada—that he was not welcome in the city. Right-wing media unleashed a wave of outrage, framing the situation solely as a Muslim telling a Christian he had no place in an American city. Crucially, conservative and local outlets offered almost no full context. It was widely reported that Hammoud’s words were a response to Barham’s criticism of the city for honoring a pro-Palestinian activist who founded the local Arab-American News. Yet Barham and the groups associated with him are part of a cohort of Christian evangelicals who for years have set up tents near Dearborn’s schools and parks, luring children with candy, face painting or football games before attempting to convert them to Christianity.
Residents of the city are increasingly voicing irritation over such activity, which many consider disrespectful. Hammoud said he grew up in Dearborn, saw evangelicals appear with a pig’s head, and in 2011 witnessed far-right pastor Terry Jones attempt to burn the Quran in the city. In 2010, the Westboro church arrived to protest against Islam. Last year, The Wall Street Journal published a column calling Dearborn the “Jihad Capital of America.”
Hammoud explained, “All of this was the backdrop when I spoke with Mr. Barham.” He said his words and his irritation—directed at an individual acting in bad faith—were misinterpreted and projected onto an entire religion, even though “everyone knows Dearborn is a place that welcomes everyone—a Christian, a Jew, or anyone else.”
During the recent protests, Lang called Black people “chimpanzees,” after which a teenager struck him, sparking scuffles between demonstrators and counterprotesters—mostly non-Muslim left-leaning activists. Some provocateurs used these episodes to claim Dearborn was a dangerous place and that they were victims of assault. Local leaders say this is a classic tactic of right-wing agitators—to provoke a confrontation and then portray themselves as the injured party. “They inflame the situation, bring cameras, upload everything online to show how radical Dearborn is, and monetize it,” Walid noted.
At the start of the nationalist march, Lang declared, “Today we affirm that America is a Christian nation. Today we affirm that America is part of European Western civilization, where there is no place for Muslims.” Lang—who was sentenced to four years in prison for beating a police officer with a bat during the January 6 riots and later pardoned by Trump—pretended he was about to burn the Quran. But an Arab American resident managed to grab the book before it was set alight.
Walid and Hammoud urged residents and other groups to avoid engaging with anti-Muslim agitators. “They should be ignored,” Walid said. “There is an Arab proverb: ‘A lion does not turn around when a small dog barks.’ Let these people howl into the wind, then go home.” He also called on Republicans to condemn such activity. Only a few did. “When they stay silent about what these people are doing, that silence is tacit complicity,” Walid said.
In the days following the rally, right-wing media continued to cast themselves as victims. Figures on the extreme right, including Tommy Robinson, Wall Street Apes and Sidney Powell, joined the discussion, urging the Justice Department to investigate the situation and deport Arab Americans. Lang, meanwhile, is promoting his next rally in Epic City, Texas—a planned settlement for a Muslim community. It was precisely this kind of rhetoric, Hammoud said, that he opposed when he told Barham he was not welcome in the city. “What people took out of context was my core message: hatred has no place in Dearborn,” he said. “While everyone is welcome here, we do not want to see those who hate others for the direction of their prayers, their beliefs, their roots or the country their family came from.”