Tulsi Gabbard's remarks on Dearborn, 'Islamist ideology' rile residents, activists

DETROIT — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's recent comments about Dearborn and Muslims stirred concerns among some residents and activists with ties to the city who say the community and the beliefs of those living there have not been depicted accurately.

Gabbard said at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference Sunday in Phoenix that "Islamist ideology ... fuels terrorist groups like al-Qaida and ISIS and Al-Shabab and Hamas and Boko Haram and others."

Turning Point USA was founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was 31.

Its annual four-day AmericaFest conference features speeches from national leaders. This year's event was the nonprofit group's first major event since Kirk's death.

The former congresswoman also said: "In places like Dearborn, Michigan, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, Islamist clerics are openly pushing this Islamist ideology, trying to recruit and radicalize young people."

Reached Tuesday, Hassan Abbas, a Dearborn spokesperson, said the city had no comment.

Majed Moughni, an attorney and lifelong city resident who runs the Dearborn Area Members Facebook group, said he was "deeply concerned by rhetoric from national leaders that paints entire communities with a broad and dangerous brush."

"Dearborn is home to law-abiding Americans who cherish the Constitution and reject violence in all its forms," he said. "When senior government officials single out cities like ours, it fuels fear, invites harassment, and places innocent families at risk. We can protect our national security without undermining the dignity, safety, and sense of belonging of American communities that are part of this country’s strength."

He added: "In recent months, Dearborn has been placed under the national spotlight. We have experienced an alarming increase in hate speech and death threats directed not at a single individual, but broadly at Muslims living in Dearborn."

Last month, a rally organized by Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson — who previously said Americans needed to be "protected from sharia law" but later posted a video apologizing on social media after he visited the Wayne County community — drew competing groups of protesters.

The counterprotesters included Jake Lang, who was among those pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, who carried an "Americans Against Islamification" sign, and other demonstrators who said they came to protest racist, anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Moughni told The Detroit News he believes the "surge in hostility has been fueled by right-wing extremists targeting a community whose only goal is to live in peace and harmony. These narratives ignore Dearborn’s long history of standing firmly against terrorism and extremism. In 2009, when the attempted airline bombing occurred, Dearborn’s Muslim community was among the first to March Against Terrorism ... Our community has also consistently stood up for the civil liberties of others, including defending the rights of Christians to peacefully protest."

He added: "Dearborn’s story has always been of immigrants living the American Dream. National leaders should reflect that reality."

At the Turning Point event, Gabbard also singled out the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, and the cities of Houston and Patterson, N.J.

"Earlier this year, there was a conference that was held representing organizations like the Council on American Islamic Relations ... which issued a call to action to use American legal and political systems to implement Sharia law," she said. "This is already underway in places."

She said those places include Houston and Patterson, New Jersey.

"It is already happening here within our borders," Gabbard said. "Patterson, N.J., is proud to call themselves the first Muslim city. They are working to implement in their own governments these Islamic principles that are forced on people through the use of laws or violence."

Officials for Washington D.C.-based CAIR, which has a Michigan chapter based in Canton Township, blasted her for her remarks.

"As the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard is responsible for gathering, analyzing and presenting factual information to policymakers so that they can protect the American people," CAIR officials said in a statement issued Monday. "The last person who should serve in this critical, apolitical role is a bigoted conspiracy theorist who spreads hate against the American people.

"Tulsi Gabbard's rant against the American Muslim community and ‘Islamic principles’ was delusional and disqualifying. If DNI Gabbard truly believes that American Muslims are on the verge of imposing Islamic law on Paterson, New Jersey, she is completely detached from reality and has no business serving as the Director of National Intelligence.

"If, on the other hand, Ms. Gabbard spewed these anti-Muslim conspiracy theories knowing they were false, then her dishonesty also disqualifies her from overseeing our nation's intelligence collection."

The group also said Gabbard should either apologize for her comments or resign.

"Sadly, Ms. Gabbard has a long history of expressing a thinly-veiled hostility toward Islam and Muslims under the guise of opposing 'Islamism,' which is why she happily met with Bashar Al-Assad and Narendra Modi, men who used the specter of a Muslim boogeyman to justify discrimination and violence against their Muslim populations," the group said.

Assad is the ousted president of Syria, and Modi is India's Prime Minister.

A Gabbard representative could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

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