A Michigan journalist is suing the city of Dearborn and its Democratic mayor, alleging officials poured public money into Muslim holiday celebrations while ignoring her repeated requests for equal treatment of Christian and Jewish holy days.
Margot Cleveland, a Dearborn resident and correspondent for The Federalist, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit through the American Freedom Law Center on Thursday, naming both the city and Mayor Abdullah Hammoud as defendants. The suit alleges the city violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, including the Establishment Clause, which bars the government from favoring one religion over another, along with protections for free speech and equal treatment under the law, the New York Post reported.
At the center of the complaint: public records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showing Dearborn spent $1,500 on Ramadan banners and $5,000 on a crescent-moon display, all with taxpayer funds. The Dearborn Police Department, meanwhile, was selling Ramadan-themed T-shirts bearing the department's official emblem. Cleveland says she asked city officials, by email, to extend similar recognition to Easter, Passover, and other Christian and Jewish holidays. She says the city never gave her an answer.
Cleveland's own words, included in the lawsuit, make clear she was not looking to tear down Dearborn's Ramadan observances. In an email to city officials, she wrote:
"I much prefer to ensure equality of faith traditions, as opposed to a challenge to the display."
That request went nowhere. Instead, the lawsuit alleges, city officials expanded the Ramadan displays. In February 2026, Dearborn commissioned crescent-and-star lights for municipal streetlights across the city. Hammoud promoted the expansion publicly, saying, "This initiative reflects who we are as a city."
No comparable effort was made for Easter, Passover, or any Christian or Jewish holiday, the suit alleges. Cleveland described herself in the filing as "a concerned resident who was ignored when I asked for the City to treat Christians and Jews equally."
Robert J. Muise, co-founder and senior counsel of the American Freedom Law Center, told Fox News Digital:
"Despite the repeated requests, they treated her as if she were an outsider and not a full member of the political community."
The lawsuit does not rest on holiday displays alone. It points to a September exchange at a Dearborn City Council meeting in which Hammoud confronted Ted Barham, a local Christian pastor. Barham had raised concerns about the city's decision to rename a street after Usama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News, who has been described as having expressed support for Hezbollah.
Hammoud's response, captured in the record and cited in the suit, was blunt:
"And although you live here, I want you to know as mayor, you are not welcome here. 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."
Hammoud also called Barham a "bigot" and an "Islamophobe" during the exchange. The plaintiff's attorneys argue the mayor's words amount to direct evidence of hostility toward Christians who question city policy.
David Yerushalmi, another attorney representing Cleveland, framed the pattern this way:
"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. Our client is simply asking the City to treat Christians and Jews as equal citizens."
Beyond the Establishment Clause claims, the lawsuit alleges the city retaliated against Cleveland for speaking up. In April, Cleveland was allegedly told she could attend a community meeting as a resident, but not as a journalist. Hammoud reportedly made what the suit calls a "snide comment" about residents who criticize the city on social media to monetize their posts, a remark Cleveland's attorneys say was aimed at her.
Muise laid out the legal theory in a statement:
"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. That is a straightforward Establishment Clause violation, and the retaliation our client faced for speaking up about it only compounds the constitutional harm."
National Review noted that Cleveland first raised the issue with local officials in April 2025, meaning her efforts to resolve the matter stretched more than a year before the lawsuit was filed.
The city has begun to respond. A Dearborn spokesperson issued a statement defending the city's record, AP News reported:
"Our city has increasingly come under attack precisely because of its welcoming nature and the diversity of the people who proudly call Dearborn home."
Hammoud himself pushed back on the characterization of his remarks to Barham, telling AP News that his frustration was directed at one individual, not an entire faith:
"People misconstrue my words and my frustration with an individual who is a bad faith actor in our community, and apply it to a whole faith, when everyone knows the city of Dearborn is a place where everyone is welcome, Christian or Jew or whatever your background."
That claim sits uneasily next to the public record. Hammoud did not tell Barham his conduct was unwelcome. He told Barham, a resident of the city, that he, as a person, was "not welcome here," and that the mayor would throw a parade when he left town. Cleveland's emails asked for equal treatment, not special treatment. The city did not say yes, did not say no, and did not offer an explanation. It simply did not answer.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and asks a federal judge to find the city violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The specific court and case number have not been publicly identified.
Dearborn is home to one of the largest Arab American communities in the country. The 2020 Census counted 109,976 residents, and 54.5 percent reported Middle Eastern or North African ancestry. An online directory cited in reporting on the case lists ten mosques within city limits. Michigan Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare, is lined with businesses featuring Arabic-script signs and Middle Eastern restaurants.
Hammoud, elected in November 2021, became the first Muslim and Arab American to lead the city. His tenure has coincided with growing national attention on Dearborn's religious and political dynamics. Michigan's 2026 U.S. Senate race features Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is Muslim and the son of Egyptian immigrants, against Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed and his supporters have accused opponents of targeting him with anti-Muslim rhetoric.
None of that context changes the legal question at the heart of Cleveland's suit. The Establishment Clause does not ask whether a city's majority faith is Islam, Christianity, or anything else. It asks whether the government is putting its thumb on the scale. Cleveland's attorneys say the spending records, the silence, the retaliation, and the mayor's own words answer that question plainly.
Equal treatment under the law is not a complicated principle. A city that spends taxpayer dollars celebrating one faith's holidays while refusing to acknowledge another's has a problem, and telling the residents who notice to leave town does not fix it.
