Dearborn, a Michigan suburb with high Muslim population, has found itself at the center of a heated national debate after an opinion piece described as "America's jihad capital". Following the publication of a Wall Street Journal opinion article headlined "Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital," Mayor Abdullah Hammoud of Dearborn announced on Friday via Twitter that the city's police have intensified patrols at key religious sites and vital infrastructure locations, attributing this action as a "direct result" of the article.
Driving the news
Dearborn has one of the highest percentages of Arab-Americans among US cities, with census figures showing it is about 54% Arab American.Dearborn, Michigan boasts the largest Muslim population per capita in the United States and also houses the largest mosque in North America.The contentious opinion article in the Wall Street Journal labeled Dearborn, Michigan, as "America's Jihad capital," accusing the city of harboring strong support for Palestinian and Islamist militant factions, notably Hamas.The article, written by Steven Stalinsky of the Middle East Media Research Institute, also suggested that southern Michigan's support for terrorism has long been a concern for US authorities.As per the WSJ opinion piece, US counterterrorism officials have long been worried about the support for terrorism in southern Michigan, especially in Dearborn, where most of the 28 terror groups identified by the State Department have a presence.A 2001 Michigan State Police report to the Justice Department after 9/11 described Dearborn as a "major financial support center" and a "recruiting area and potential support base" for international terror groups, possibly including sleeper cells, Stalinsky wrote.Several current or former Dearborn residents have been convicted of terror-related crimes in recent years, indicating the persistence of the problem, the author claimed.Ahmad Musa Jibril, a Dearborn-based jihadi sheikh with a large online following, openly advocates for holy war and praises Hamas for killing and kidnapping Israelis. He also urges Muslims in the West to normalize the term "jihad" and insults President Biden as a "senile pharaoh."
